Cloudiness East and (Vest. 23 
Cloudiness is rated from o to 10, three observations daily, and 
the figures in the table are the averages from these daily obser- 
vations for a series of years:— 
NorMAL CLOUDINESS AT CALIFORNIA AND EASTERN POINTS FOR NINE- 
TEEN YEARS (1870-98), FROM THE RECORDS OF THE U. S. WEATHER 
BuREAU. 
3 i= a od Be ~ 3 Be 
CALIFORNIA. g C 5 = 2 3 é 8 gg 
Red Bluft............] 4.4 | 4.2 | 3-6 | 1.9 | 1.0 |] 07 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 3.4 12.5 
Sacramento......... 39 | 3-5 | 27 | 1.5 | 05 | 04 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 2.8 12.0 
San Francisco.....} 4.8 | 4-3 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3-3 | 3-8 |4.0 
Fresn0...eeceeseeees 4.3 |29]2.7 ]15 | 07 ]09 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 2.8 |2.1 
San Diego 4.8 {4.4 15.3.148 )43 | 3-9 | 3-7 | 3-8 | 3.3 |4.2 
EASTERN. 
Rochester, N. Y..| 6.6 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 7.6 |5.5_ 
New York, N.Y.) 5.5 | 5-3 | 5.2 | 4-9 | 5-0 | 4-9 | 4.7 | 4-9 | 5-2 |5.05 
Philadelphia, Pa.| 5.6 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4-8 | 4.7 | 5.2 |5.0, 
Baltimore, Md.....] 5.4 | 5-1 | 5-1 | 49 | 4-8 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.9 4.9; 
Cleveland, Ohio..| 6.4 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 5-7 | 7-3 |5.3 
Grand Haven, M_| 6.2 | 5.4 | 4.8 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 7.5 {5.1 
Jacksonville, Fla.| 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5-0 | 4.2 | 4.5 |4.5 
New Orleans, La.| 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 4.7) 49 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3-5 | 4.5 |4.5 
RELATION OF ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY TO THE GROWTH 
OF “TREES. 
There is another important condition of the climate of Cali- 
fornia which is intimately related to those which have been con- 
sidered, and which is to be credited with no small influence in 
the perfection of our fruits, and that is the low percentage of 
humidity which our atmosphere contains. In California the per- 
centage of humidity is high in the winter and low in the sum- 
mer; in the East the condition is just reversed. For this reason 
summer heat is far more oppressive in the East than in Califor- 
nia, and for the same reason certain serious fungoid diseases 
which prevail at the East, though found here in less injurious 
degree directly on the coast, are wholly unknown in the interior 
where the air is drier. The dry air also favors the access and 
action of light and heat, for Tyndall says that a sheet of vapor 
acts as a screen to the earth, being in a great measure impervious 
to heat. 7 
It is not necessary then that there should be clouds to lessen 
the chemical effects of sun heat in fruit ripening. Not only do 
clouds intercept sunshine, but watery vapor in the air—when to 
the eye the sun is bright as ever—can absorb a large quantity of 
