152 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
I wish to say if there is anything you 
think can be improved upon in our depart¬ 
ment, do not hesitate to send a suggest¬ 
ion to us. By the adoption of your sug¬ 
gestion, we may be able to give more ef¬ 
fective service. Should any ideas occur 
to you by which we will be able to get 
you more information, more quickly and 
effectively, let us have them. The weath¬ 
er bureau realizes that it is here to serve 
you; that is our duty and our pleasure. 
The weather bureau appreciates the 
gravity of the situation. There is always 
an interest in your welfare. It some¬ 
times fails, but does not everything else 
fail once in a while. In your sickness you 
send for the doctor, but the patient some¬ 
times dies. Sometimes you get a lawyer 
to pull you out of difficulties, but often 
you lose your case. That is the way with 
us; we do our duty by you so far as we 
can, but sometimes we fail. However, 
we have this satisfaction; we know more 
about the business than anybody else. 
When normal conditions prevail the 
weather provokes no more than passing 
comment. But there are times when pub¬ 
lic attention is deeply absorbed in its se¬ 
verity and probable duration. And why 
not ? Is there anything that is not affect¬ 
ed by the weather? Centuries ago there 
were theories tending to elucidate the 
complex question of foretelling weather 
changes. Fabled romance, however, 
found its counterpart in the signs and 
sayings of the superstitious. But myth¬ 
ological and astrological tenets no longer 
receive attention for the sunlight of ad¬ 
vanced thought has evolved more tangible 
theories. 
It is obvious to the thoughtful, whether 
in northern latitudes or the sub-tropics, 
that abnormal weather intensifies the con¬ 
dition of the human race, and leaves its 
impress on all things within the sphere 
of man’s activity. 
Next in far reaching consequences 
to tornadoes, or those intensive disturb¬ 
ances born in the tropical seas and called 
hurricanes, comes the cold wave of great 
anti-cyclones. Though the antithesis of 
the cyclone or hurricane in its mechanism 
and attendant characteristics, when un¬ 
duly energized, its sphere of operations 
is limited only by the confines of our 
country, leaving no industry directed by 
the skill of man untouched. This factor, 
so potent for ill to the husbandman in the 
lower continental latitudes of the United 
States, where citrus fruits, vegetables and 
other crops indigenous to the subtropics 
are grown, is now recognized. 
In a fundamental discussion of the 
genesis, life and propagation of cold 
waves the fact that the cyclone or low 
area is a sort of by-product, materially 
modifying at times and at others enlarg¬ 
ing the scope and accentuating the se¬ 
verity of the cold wave, cannot be re¬ 
garding the formation of the cold waves, 
be retarded in its east and south move¬ 
ment frequently depends on the inten¬ 
sity and accelerated movement of the area 
of low pressure, which is usually of great¬ 
est depth during January and February, 
although there have been marked excep¬ 
tions in favor of December and March. 
“While the forces involved in the form¬ 
ation of cold waves are still matters of 
theoretical meteorology, their origin and 
field of operations have been practically 
determined. 
