28 Wyo. Agricultural Experiment Station. BUL. 100 



tures, range of temperatures, etc., throughout the year and dur- 

 ing the growing season should all be quite well known before 

 deciding upon a location. 



If alfalfa is to be the principal crop the climate need not be 

 that required for corn. Everyone knows that cotton will not 

 thrive well in the northern states, although we have soils sim- 

 ilar to the cotton soils of the south. Here the climate deter- 

 mines largely the profitable crop rather than the soil conditions. 



Climate in a mountainous section may vary markedly. 

 Altitude changes very rapidly and the changes in the contour of 

 the country have a remarkable effect upon the precipitation and 

 temperature. The lofty mountains and snow-clad peaks may 

 protect one section while acting as a very menace to another, 

 sending down icy blasts which are death to the tender agricul- 

 tural plants. Sections of the country at the same altitudes 

 only a few miles apart may show a marked difference in time 

 in the opening of the growing season. Differences in air drain- 

 age is very marked in mountainous regions and adjoining farms 

 and even neighboring fields and sections of the same field may 

 be several days apart in the opening and closing of the growing 

 season. These are reasons why climate should be given as care- 

 ful study and made a subject of as close investigation as the 

 soil. To give more accurate data in field research weather 

 records are kept. 



The meteorological instruments of the University of Wyo- 

 ming Agricultural Experiment Station are at Laramie, at an 

 altitude of approximately 7190 feet above sea level. They are 

 the usual instruments specified by the Weather Bureau of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. They are described 

 in Wyoming Experiment Station Bulletin No. 4, "Meteorology 

 for 1891," and in Bulletin No. 250, "Instructors for Voluntary 

 Observers," Weather Bureau, United States Department of 

 Agriculture. In some cases modified forms are used for con- 

 venience. 



