124 The National Geographic Magazine 



has added 98,357, or 60 per cent, in a 

 total population of 260,743. This is due 

 largeh^ to the situation of Nuremberg at 

 the point of junction of man}' highwaj'S 

 and of seven railroads. The city of 

 Posen has increased by 42,912 since 

 1895, largely by the influx of farmers 

 and agricultural people from the coun- 

 try, more especially from Prussia. 



Stett'n now numbers 209,988 souls, 

 an increase in population of 69,264, 

 owing to its position as the seaport of 

 Berlin. 



Hamburg has added 79,1 17, making a 

 population of 704,069; Munich, 87,502, 

 making a total of 498,503. I^eipsic has 

 gained 55, 126 in a present population of 

 455,120, Dresden 58,909 in 305,349, and 

 Frankfort has increased 58,534, making 

 her population 287,813. 



These figures show clearl}^ that the 

 Germans are becoming more and more a 

 manufacturing people. The land-owners 

 are becoming alarmed and are even dis- 

 cussing the advisability of importing 

 Chinese to work on their farms. 



The population of the empire is 

 56,345,014, an increase of about four 

 million, or of 'j.'jS percent within five 

 years. It is interesting to note that there 

 are nearly a million more females than 

 males, whereas in the United States this 

 proportion is reversed. 



EFFECT OF SNOWFALL ON 

 WATER SUPPLY. 



SOME very interesting conclusions 

 have been published by the experts 

 of the U. S. Weather Bureau, who have 

 for several years been studying the effect 

 of winter snowfall on the water suppl}' 

 of the succeeding summer. The obser- 

 vations have been confined to the arid 

 regions of the west, more particularly 

 Colorado and Idaho, where the rivers 

 and streams derive their principal water 

 supply from the melting of the snow on 

 the mountains. 



The generally prevalent belief that a 

 winter of heavy snowfall is succeeded 

 by swollen streams in spring and sum- 

 mer is not necessarily correct. It is not 

 the quantity of snow that falls during 

 the winter so much as the condition of 

 the soil when winter sets in, the quality 

 of the snow, and the time when it falls, 

 that determine whether streams shall 

 continue full late in the season and fur- 

 nish abundance of water for irrigating 

 canals. An unusuall}^ heavy snowfall 

 in March will certainly be followed by 

 drought in late spring and summer, un- 

 less this snow was preceded by a snow- 

 fall in the early winter. It is the snow 

 that falls in November and December, 

 and thus becomes packed hard during 

 the winter and melts slowly in the 

 spring and summer, that keeps water 

 in the streams till summer is nearlj^ over. 

 The snow that falls in March and Feb- 

 ruary has no time to become packed and 

 hardened. The first warm breath of 

 spring melts it with a rush, the streams 

 overflow their banks, freshets flood the 

 Countrj' for a few da5^s ; then gradually 

 the streams subside and a drought 

 ensues. 



The issuing of special snow bulletins 

 has been continued this winter b}' the 

 section directors of the U. S. Weather 

 Bureau in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, 

 Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. 

 These bulletins give the average amount 

 of snow on the ground, the amount in 

 the timber line, and the depth of the 

 snow at or near the mountain summits. 

 From their knowledge of the depth, 

 character, and distribution of the snow, 

 the Weather Bureau experts are able to 

 give a reliable general forecast of the 

 water supply for the ensuing season for 

 the different streams of the arid section. 

 The farmer thus learns months in ad- 

 vance the quantity of water his irrigat- 

 ing ditches are like!}' to receive. The 

 sheep-herder also studies the snow 

 bulletin with profit. In early spring 

 bands of sheep begin to roam the prai- 



