214 Meteorology in Horticulture. 



METEOROLOGY IN HORTICULTURE. 



By Dr. John A. Warder, President Ohio State Horticultural Society. 



We have heard during the past years so much said about the importance 

 of the study of the fickle elements, and of their bearing upon the success 

 or failure of our crops, that the most doubting and those least informed 

 begin to believe that there is something in the subject of meteorology tliat 

 is worthy the serious study of the agriculturist. 



The valuable papers of Mr. Lippincott, which have appeared in the 

 reports of the National Department of Agriculture, have done much to en- 

 lighten the public mind upon this subject : they are, indeed, well worthy of 

 study, and should incite increased attention to the phenomena of the 

 weather. The numerous observers who so patiently and continuously 

 report the diurnal changes in the temperature, moisture, and other condi- 

 tions of the atmosphere, to the Smithsonian Institution, are doing a great 

 and noble work for the nation ; and their combined results are accumulat- 

 ing in the archives of that establishment and in the agricultural depart- 

 ment, where they are collated, and put into form, so as to constitute a vast 

 fund, from which deductions of great practical value may one day be drawn 

 that may enable us almost to rule the storms. 



Certain data are being accumulated ; and they have already reached to 

 such a point, that predictions of some of the leading changes in the weather 

 can safely be made : and we may well feel encouraged to hope that we 

 are on the high road to the discovery of the great laws of storms, or alter- 

 nations of that aerial ocean which exercises such an important influence 

 upon our crops, our domestic animals, and, indeed, upon ourselves. 



Not to look further for an illustration, let us take the grape. The high- 

 est authorities of Europe, often quoted in this country, limit the success 

 of this crop to regions that enjoy a meaJi temperature during the growing 

 season which shall not fall below sixty-live degrees, and a condition of 

 hygrometricity which shall not be marked by a greater rain-fall than eleven 

 inches during the same period. 



Mr. Lippincott has well pointed out that this last element — the amount 

 of precipitated moisture — is, of itself, not a correct indication of thehygro- 



