164 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 214. 



Maryland. The distribution of those rocks 

 which are adapted for highway construction 

 has been carefully surveyed and points for 

 the subsequent locations of quarries of road 

 metals indicated. 



The agricultural conditions of the State 

 have also been considered and a study made 

 of many of the relations of the geological 

 formations to the soils derived from them. 

 This classification of the soils has been con- 

 ducted under a plan of cooperation with 

 Professor Milton Whitney, of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture and the Maryland 

 Experiment Station, and, outside of its 

 scientific interest, will prove of much prac- 

 tical benefit to the agricultural interests of 

 the State. 



The distribution of plant and animal life 

 is so closely connected with the soils and 

 geology that the Survey plans a study of 

 the fauna and flora from this standpoint. 

 Already some work has been done under 

 the direction of Messrs. Sollers and Barton 

 upon the botany of Maryland, more partic- 

 ularly in the western counties. It is planned 

 in the future to carry on this work in co- 

 operation with the newly organized State 

 Horticultural Bureau. 



Much advance was made during the year 

 in the preparation of the manuscript for 

 subsequent volumes. Professor Merrill 

 ■completed his work upon the Building and 

 Decorative Stones of Maryland, and Mr. 

 Henry Gannett, of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, furnished an elaborate treatise upon 

 the Aims and Methods of Topographic 

 Work for the report upon the cartography 

 of the State. These and other reports by 

 the regular staff of the Survey are now be- 

 ing collected for the second volume, which 

 will be brought out during the autumn of 

 1898. 



THE MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE. 



The Maryland Weather Service was es- 

 tablished in May, 1891, under the joint 



auspices of the Johns Hopkins University, 

 the Maryland Agricultural College and the 

 United States Weather Bureau, and became 

 an official organization by an act of the 

 General Assembly approved by the Gover- 

 nor April 6, 1892. Under authority granted 

 by this act the Maryland Weather Service 

 was permanentlj' established at the Johns 

 Hopkins University, under the direction of 

 a Board of Control nominated by the heads 

 of the institutions above mentioned and 

 commissioned by the Governor. 



During the first five years of the exist- 

 ence of the Service the investigations were 

 confined largely to a study of the general 

 meteorological conditions of the State. 

 Numerous stations were established in the 

 different counties, volunteer observers hav- 

 ing been obtained at a sufficient number of 

 points to render it possible to determine the 

 more important features of the climate of the 

 State. Throughout the same time monthly 

 Meteorological Eeports, extending through 

 the year, and weekly Crop Bulletins, cover- 

 ing the growing and harvesting seasons, 

 were published. Two biennial reports to the 

 General Assemblies of 1891 and 1896 were 

 also prepared and subsequently printed with 

 the necessary maps, diagrams and tables. A 

 series of large Climatic Charts was also 

 published and placed on exhibition in the 

 Marj'land Building in Chicago at the time 

 of the Columbian Exposition, and copies of 

 the same were subsequently distributed. 



Somewhat over a year ago an entire 

 reorganization of the work of the Maryland 

 Weather Service was effected. It seemed 

 desirable to transfer the accumulation of 

 the general climatic data to the Climate and 

 Crop Service of the Weather Bureau, which 

 is much more fully equipped for carrying 

 on that phase of the work, and to devote 

 the money and energies of the Maryland 

 Weather Service to the study of special 

 problems connected with the climatology of 

 the State. It was thought possible, by con- 



