74 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



REPORT OF THE METEOROLOGIST. 



JOHN E. OSTRANOER. 



The work of this division the past year has been principally 

 devoted to the observation of the various weather phenomena, 

 together with the reduction of the records and their arrange- 

 ment in form for preservation. 



The usual monthly bulletins, giving the more important 

 daily records and a review of the character of the weather, 

 have been issued, and the annual summary will be published 

 as soon as the records for the year are complete. 



Throughout the year the New England section of the United 

 States Weather Bureau has furnished us daily, except Sun- 

 day, with the local forecasts of the weather, and the signals 

 have been displayed' from the top of the tower. Arrange- 

 ments have been made to furnish them the weekly snow re- 

 ports, as heretofore. 



The observations relating to soil temperature and moisture 

 by the electrical method, begun two years ago, have been 

 continued this year. Owing to the unsatisfactory results of 

 the previous years, the temperature cells and moisture elec- 

 trodes were tested and standardized before using them in the 

 field. The temperature cells were placed in water and the 

 resistances observed. After the resistances became constant 

 for each cell, the temperature of the water was taken by a 

 standard thermometer. The resistance of each cell was thus 

 determined, for temperatures varying by about 10° F., for a 

 range exceeding that which it would be subjected to in the 

 field. The cells were afterward placed in soil in a box, and 

 the resistances observed and the temperature computed by 

 the tables in Bulletin No. 7 of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, Division of Soils, and checked by using a 

 standard thermometer. The standardization of the moisture 



