FLORIDA »STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
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whole, be the unit and from it radiate 
authoritative instructions to sub-agents 
whose functions are to see an ever widen¬ 
ing field into which all special warnings of 
severe frosts and cold waves find lodg¬ 
ment. 
I am not unmindful that but few 
things in life are perfect, and this fact is 
distressingly realized when a predicted 
cold wave fails to materialize. The 
weather man is comforted, however, in 
the knowledge that the failure is usually a 
prediction of something that failed to ma¬ 
terialize, and not the arrival of condi¬ 
tions that were not predicted, which 
makes a great difference when viewed 
from the standpoint of a beneficiary, such 
as are fruit and vegetable growers. 
Hitherto studies have been confined, 
mostly to the terrestrial plain, resulting 
in such deductions as were founded on 
empirical processes. The perfected kite 
and the sounding balloon are now poten¬ 
tial agents in furthering the exploration 
of the upper air, giving ground for a welt 
founded hope that, when all data are co- 
rellated, we shall know more of the law 
of the upper air currents. 
The Weather Bureau sends aloft al¬ 
most daily at Mount Weather, Va., either 
the kite or balloon, and already the data 
have illuminated some subjects hitherto 
rather obscure for we know more about 
the conditions governing temperature in¬ 
vasions, as well as wind direction and 
wind velocity of the upper levels, as com¬ 
pared with those of the lower terrestrial 
plain. All this information will ultimate¬ 
ly be made to do duty for the farmer and 
fruit grower^ the sailor, and the dweller 
within the city. 
