August 21, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



331 



r^ A D r^ C 1\1 A 1\1 r^ C/^D C CTT^ "'^^ ^'^ ^'^'^ leeward of some shelter, as it is to keep from 



VJ /\ f\ LJ t, 1 N /\ I N LJ r vJ IX tl/ ^ I . freezing- during 0. prairie blizzard. The thermometers in 



the shade indicate temperatures from 100 to no de- 



puBLisHED WEEKLY BY grees, Fahrenheit, or even higher, and by midday 



nearly all unsheltered objects will be uncomfortably hot to 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. the touch. It is necessary to tightly close all doors and 



windows to keep out the penetrating hot winds, which for- 



Off.ce: Tribune Bu.LDmc. Ne^v York. tunatcly slacken at night, allowing the air to cool. 



The recorded data relating to these hot winds of the 



" prairies show that one of their most striking features is the 



Conducted by Professor c. s. Sargent. abnormally heated Currents which are frequently observed, 



the air between being much cooler, though the atmosphere 



is heated generally and there is an e.xcess of temperature 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. throughout the alTccted rcgion. _ Thcsc bUsts are of short 



duration, but often come in rapid succession. The spaces 



^ between the narrow currents may be measured by yards, 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2., 1895. ^"' the blasts occur in groups which may be miles apart, 



or may cover whole counties and states, as they did last 



— summer, to the sudden and irreparable damage of the pre- 

 viously promising Corn crop. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. p^ popular theory regarding the cause of the hot wimls 



of the Great Plains is that the prevailing westerly summer 



Editorial Articles :-The Hoi Winds of the Prairies ."33,' wiuds, already dried in the arid mountain regions, are in- 



Tiie Cedar of Ai.iieiia. (With figure.) 33= tcnscly heated by the drought-burned and closely pastured 



A Remarkable Grimp of Pines Mrs. J. H. Rohbins. ■^■2 . . ■' , . , a i J- t .n ' i, j. 1 r 



Foreign Correspondence :— Notes on Aquatic Plants /(-. Ifatso,,. 333 prairie, whlch reflects Or radiates the SUn S heat, and for a 



Plant Notes 334 \^^^ milcs beyond the local cause, until the heated air rises. 



Cultural Department:— A New IMethodot Using the Ferrocyanide Potassium , ..11 v,^ ../ •' , , , r 1, • . . X,, , 



Test E. G Lodeman. 336 the Withering blasts are lelt m narrow strips. Those who 



^^^gSSci^i^:«:nni:is.;;. ;;;"■.;::;;;:::. v.. ;;V.-.Vf^S.-)^:g; g have experienced the hot winds know that they are much 



Euryaie ferox G, w. Oliver, iiq more scverc to the leevvard of miles of bare prairie or of 



CoRKESPONDENCH : — Grape-ffrowins: in North Carolina L. 7". Vance. 3^17 1 . 1 i 1 r: 1 j ji *u - aI. i ■ 1 c 



Neiumbium speciosum in Egypiiam Tombs David F. Dny. 338 large stubble faelds than they are on the lee side of e.xten- 



Recent Publications 338 gjyg corn-fields or tree-growth. The same difference is 



Illustration:— A Forest'oYtheMounVAViascVdar^^ noticed during the heated term in citics, between the hot 



blasts from the metal roofs and paved streets, as compared 



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ with the cool breeze from the parks. Thus, the prairie hot 



The Hot Winds of the Prairies. winds are inconstant in velocity, varying from breezes to 



gales, the strong wind of one neighborhood being a light 



THE overland wagon-freighters to California, during breeze a hundred miles away. The general atmospheric 



the late summer and autumn season, regarded the conditions, however, act in cooperation with any local 



eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains as "The Great causation. 



American Desert," its frequently parched appearance being Scientific men, noticing that the development of dry hot 

 so different from the verdure and blossom of spring-time. winds over the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains 

 The desert similarity was almost complete when the hot apparently depends upon the presence of very slow moving 

 winds were encountered and the plains were reddened in low-pressure areas along this eastern slope, and thence east- 

 a day. Since then there have been occasional seasons of ward, accompanied by a relatively high pressure over the 

 simooms on the Great Plains, and for two summers they Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon, believe that the air 

 have blighted the corn-fields of Nebraska, Ivansas, Iowa in the hot winds comes from over that part of the Pacific 

 and parts of other western states. Sometimes they occur so Ocean, and is heated in its sudden descent from the sum- 

 early in the summer as to seriously damage the Wheat and mit of the Rockies to reach the prairies below. The west- 

 Oat crops when the grain is filling, especially if a previous erly winds from the Pacific lose their moisture in climbing 

 droughty period like the recent one has robbed the subsoil the continental divide, and in the rapid fall of man)^ thou- 

 of its plant-sustaining. moisture. sand feet to the Great Plains the dry air gains about one 



The Corn on the prairies reaches that most critical stage degree of heat for each one hundred feet through which it 



when the pollen in the opening tassel is growing so rapidly descends, to become the intensely hot winds of the prairies, 



that its perfection needs all the plant juices, so that when it heating the surrounding atmosphere and falling at any 



falls on the ear it will grow vigorously down the silken time of day or night upon the soil which is usually also 



tubes to the young grains on the cob, and set the ear full dry, but which may be wet. Dr. Hann has shown that the 



of kernels. But the thirsty winds blow from the west, rising air will leave eight-tenths of its moisture below an 



drinking the moisture from the upper leaves so quickly that altitude of fifteen thousand feet, and, with Professor Bezold 



the tassel, not being kept moist and cool, is sun-scalded, and others, has deduced the rate of heating in the descent, 



and its pollen killed before it is shed. Though every leaf The wind, heated by falling, undoubtedly rushes over those 



may be fresh and green the next day, the farmer knows, prairie areas which are abnormally heated from local 



from the white and blasted tassels, that no corn will set, causes. It is interesting to note that the hot winds of 



and that the fattening hogs and cattle must be sold. That California are also falling winds, coming from the north- 



the blasting is due to lack of moisture is shown by the fre- ward, down the slopes of the Sierras. 



quent full yield on those parts of the field which retain a The hot winds always wilt the prairie plants, and the 



moist soil, or are sheltereil by trees from the full force of intenser blasts scald and shrivel the tender leaves to a crisp 



the drying blasts. in a few minutes when the soil is dry, and always in a few 



These simooms of the Great Plains are liable to occur hours, even when the soil is very moist. The lower leaves 



every summer on the eastern slope of the Rocky i\Ioun- of Corn and other hardy plants are not usually damaged, 



tains, between the middle of May and the middle of Sep- Apples are said to have been baked upon the trees, and the 



tember, being most frequent during July ami August, and leaves so dried as to crumble at the slightest touch. Wheat 



are seldom severe except during droughts. During their and other small grain may be blastetl from the blossoming 



continuance the atmosphere is like a blast from a hot fur- time until the grain reaches the doughy stage, and even 



nace, the tremor of heat often being visible at a short dis- then it may be shrunken, though it cannot be completely 



tance. To avoid heat-stroke, it is often as necessary to destroyed. The grasses of pastures are burned brown to 



