158 



the best results thus far obtained from the Bordeaux mixture and 

 ammoniacal carbonate of copper as a fungicide, and Paris green as 

 an insecticide. 



The Meteorological Division. 



The line of work previously decided upon in this division has 

 not been fully performed. The series of experiments in electro- 

 culture, pursued for a season with encouraging results, has been 

 delayed ; the necessary apparatus has been purchased and prepa- 

 rations made, and it is hoped that when the season opens investi- 

 gation in this direction may be resumed. In other respects there 

 has been steady progress toward improvement. A fine standard 

 signal service barometer for verifying the readings of the baro- 

 graph, and Greeley's " self -starting, self -stopping, ink- writing 

 telegraph register,'' have been placed in the observatory. The 

 latter instrument is unique in itself, and designed to record 

 weather foi'ecasts which at any time may be telegraphed to the 

 college. The connection, however, between the observatory and 

 the main line has not been made ; but as soon as this can be 

 accomplished and preparations for displaying flags completed, the 

 weather service at Washington will furnish the daily forecasts free. 



For taking observations at the base of the tower there" have 

 been recently purchased a new set of maximum and minimum 

 thermometers, a portable self-registering anemometer, and Furges- 

 son's self-recording rain and snow gauge. This new apparatus, in 

 addition to the valuable appliances already in place, increases the 

 value of the division, and makes an observatory more fully equipped 

 with self-recording instruments than any other of its kind in the 

 country. AVith the present facilities for wofk, and encouraging 

 prospects ahead, it is hoped that soon the object so long pursued 

 and the efforts put forth will be realized and appreciated in a well- 

 established signal station at the college. 



A knowledge of the climate is of vital importance to tlie agri- 

 culturist ; extreme periods of heat and cold, early and late frosts, 

 rainfall and drought, relative humidity, and the ever-changing 

 conditions of the weather, hold largely in their power the success 

 and failure of crops and the health and prosperity of the people. 

 As every locality has a climate peculiar to itself, it is wise that the 

 meteorology of each section of country should be thoroughly under- 

 stood. It is with this end in view that the department has under- 

 taken to study the large amount of most valuable meteorological 

 data, collected for the last fifty-seven years by the late Professor 

 Snell (of Amherst College) and the Misses Suell, and bring it into 

 a more condensed form, that deductions^ can be made and some 

 definite conclusion drawn as to the mean climate of Amherst. 



