350 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1293 



with, pages of explanatory text; tlie arrange- 

 ment is unusual and at first siglit not attrac- 

 tive, but as soon as one lias become accus- 

 tomed to it, it is found to have mucli to com- 

 mend it The photographs from which most 

 of the plates were made are exceptionally 

 clear and hence the necessity of using half- 

 tones is not so unfortunate as might be. The 

 impossibility of using a lens on such plates 

 is counterbalanced by the numerous drawings 

 of the essential details, so that every impor- 

 tant species is amply illustrated. The volume 

 is a credit to the Government Printing Office, 

 as well as to the ISTational Museum, and it 

 amply confirms Fisher's position as chief 

 among students of the Asteroidea. 



Hubert Lyman Claek 



NOTES ON METEOROLOGY AND 



CLIMATOLOGY 



AGRICULTURAL METEOROLOGY 



Since weather is a prime factor in crop pro- 

 duction, the study of agricultural meteorology 

 is not lagging in this great farming country. 

 It is only comparatively recently, however, 

 that the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture has 

 made available a large amount of reliable in- 

 formation about crops in such a form as to be 

 used readily for comparison with weather and 

 climate. For six years there has been a 

 division of agricultural geography, Mr. 0. E. 

 Baker in charge, the principal object of which 

 has been to issue by sections a carefully 

 wrought " Atlas of American Agriculture." 

 An advance rainfall map of the United States,^ 

 and advance folios on Frost and the Growing 

 Season,^ and on Cotton^ have appeared, as 

 well as extensive graphic contributions in the 

 Year Book of the U. S. Department of Agri- 



1 Reproduced in Mo. Weather Sev., July, 1917, 

 and discussed on pp. 338-345 by E. DeC. Ward. 

 (Reviewed in Science, N. S., Vol. 48, July 19, 

 1918, pp. 67-71.) 



2 Reviewed in Ma. Weather Sev., November, 

 1918, pp. 516-517, and in Geog. Sev., May, 1919, 

 pp. 339-344. (Reprinted, Sci. Am. Suppt, August 

 23, 1919, pp 117-118.) 



3 The climatology of the cotton plant is being 

 reprinted in the Mo. Weather Bev., July, 1919, and 

 is reviewed in Geog. Bev., May, 1919, pp. 348-349. 



culture, 1915,* 1916,= IQIT^ and 1918,'' and a 

 fine small atlas on " The Geography of the 

 World's Agriciilture."^ The Weather Bureau's 

 contribution to the Atlas of American Agri- 

 culture has been the material for the climatic 

 section, of which there is much still to be 

 published ; and now its division of agricultural 

 meteorology, Professor J. Warren Smith, in 

 charge, is pushing forward several lines of 

 investigation on the influence of weather and 

 climate on dates of planting and harvesting 

 crops and on crop yields,* and on the occur- 

 rence of damaging frosts and the possibility 

 of forecasting them from weather conditions 

 the day before.^" Furthermore, with the ex- 

 cellent crop maps now available. Professor R. 

 DeC. Ward, of Harvard, has written an inter- 

 esting interpretation of the "Larger relations 

 of climate and crops in the United States." 

 Some of the recent Weather Bureau contribu- 

 tions to agricultural meteorology will be re- 

 viewed briefly here. 



Relation hetween Vegetative and Frostless 

 Periods (by J. B. Kincer, Mo. Weather Bev., 

 Feb., 1919, Vol. 47, pp. 106-110, 5 figs., 8 

 charts). Since 6° C. (about 43° F.) is gen- 



* " A Graphic Summary of American Agricul- 

 ture," by Middleton Smith, O. E. Baker and E. G. 

 Hainsworth, pp. 329-403, 4 graphs, 78 maps. 



s " A Graphic Summary of World Agriculture, ' ' 

 by V. C. Finch, 0. E. Baker and E. G. Hainsworth, 

 pp. 531-553, 74 figs. 



6 " A Graphic Summary of Seasonal Work on 

 Farm Crops," by O. E. Baker, C. F. Brooks and 

 R. G. Hainsworth, pp. 537-589, 90 figa. Ab- 

 stracted and discussed in Mo. Weather Bev., May, 

 1919, pp. 323-327. 



7 ' ' Arable Land in the United States, " by O. E. 

 Baker and H. M. Strong, Separate 771, 10 pp., 10 

 graphs, 9 maps. 



sBy V. C. Finch and O. E. Baker (Oface of 

 Farm Management, TJ. S. Dept. of Agric.) Wash- 

 ington, 1917. Eeviewed in Jour, of Geog., Jan- 

 uary, 1919, pp. 39^0. 



A thorough discussion of the effect of weather 

 on the yields of corn, potatoes and winter wheat, 

 by J. Warren Smith, is published in Proe. Second 

 Pan- Am. Sci. Cong., 1915-16, Vol. 2, pp. 75-92: 

 see review, in Geog. Bev., Vol. 4, 1917, p. 317. 



10 "Predicting Minimum Temperatures," by J. 

 Warren Smith, Monthly Weather Beview, August, 

 1917, pp 402-407. 



