The Promise of Science 



greatest that meteorology has had, for by its 

 aid direct and immediate records are possible 

 from air and sea ships, from mountain tops and 

 from the uttermost parts of the earth. But when 

 all this is done, when we know the weather a 

 week or a month ahead as certainly as we know 

 to-morrow's (say 90 per cent, correct), when we 

 can guess at the next season, and begin to gauge 

 the coining harvest. What then? We can guard 

 against famine, husband our resources, grow 

 more wheat or beef, less cotton and tobacco, 

 and take general precautions against want, we 

 could guard against unusual seasons, sharp winters, 

 wet summers, or droughts, and generally so 

 order our ways that we should no more be taken 

 unawares. In those parts where floods descend 

 there will be a time of preparation, digging of 

 channels, cleaning of watercourses and strength- 

 ening of embankments, so that the danger may 

 be averted. Where drought is feared water will 

 be husbanded, the Nile will be stored behind 

 its barrages, and the farmers of California or 

 Australia will see to their irrigation and their 

 wells. 



Coming to more familiar details, haymaking will 

 be but a pastime, and with the next month or 

 more accurately mapped out, every agricultural 

 operation will be simplified. It will put an end 



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