A(jricultaral and Forest Meteorology. 
6i) 
Most notably has this been the case in Belgium, where the 
famous statistician, the elder Quetelet, published his ' Instruc- 
tions ' in 1839, and where the results of these observations 
have now been published for forty years. In this country 
the matter has at various times been taken up, and at the meet- 
ing of the Ihitish Association at York in 1844 a Committee 
was appointed to lay down rules for the observation of these 
phenomena. The list of plants and animals proposed by this 
committee as subjects for observation was a very long one, 
and accordingly, when the matter was reconsidered in 1874 by 
a joint committee representing the Royal Agricultural, the 
Meteorological, and other societies, the list was greatly curtailed. 
The reports of observations taken in accordance with these 
recent instructions have been published in the ' Quarterly Journal 
of the Meteorological Society ' for the last six years, and they 
contain a rich storehouse of interesting facts, although we cannot 
say that as yet rules for the practical guidance of farmers have 
been laid down from the information collected, even in Belgium, 
where the system has been longest in operation. 
Question V. 
Can meteorological offices at present issue Weather Forecasts for the use of 
agriculturists with any prospect of success ? 
Jf the answer should he in the affirmatiue, how should the service he organised 
so as to attain this ohj'ect as completely as possible ? 
Ti. 24:. "The Conference is of opinion that, notwitlistandinf; the existing 
<lifficulties of the subject, no meteorological organisation can decline to comply 
with the demand of the public for weather forecasts." 
K. 25. ''The Conference recommends the representatives of meteorology in 
<lifierent countries to prepare in their own languages, for the use of agricul- 
turists, popular explanations of the principles on which these forecasts are 
framed." 
One cannot but feel somewhat disappointed at these resolu- 
tions as conveying the opinions of men more than one of whom 
has for several years been entrusted with the duty of issuing 
daily forecasts for extensive areas. I had hoped that at least 
some estimate of the correctness of the forecasts issued in 
France and in Germany respectively would have been laid 
before the Conference. The latest tables of results published 
by our own JNIeteorological Office in its Annual Report were 
appended to the letter from the Meteorological Society, of which 
mention has already been made, and are reproduced in the 
lithographed Appendices to the Report, but no other office 
communicated even its own estimate of the value of its weather 
work. Especially interesting would it have been to have learnt 
the outcome of Leverrier's system of agricultural forecasts for 
France, the introduction of which was announced with a great 
