Keport of the Director of the 
lead us to seriously question its adaptability for the purposes to which 
it has sometimes been applied. We have noticed that a succession of 
warm days often appears to influence the earliness of bloom more than 
do the sums of temperature over a more extended period. Thus the 
apple bloomed in May in the order 1886, 1887 and 1885, while the 
mean temperatures for April were 50°, 43° and 43°; for May were 58°, 
65° and 58°. The following tables give the mean temperatures and 
the blooming of the various plants on the station grounds: 
Mean Temperature. 
March. 
April. 
May. 
June. 
Average of maximum, 1885 
27.1° 
50.7° 
64.7° 
74.1° 
Average of maximum, 1886 
37.0 
60.1 
65.7 
75.1 
Average of maximum, 1887 
33.1 
51.6 
74.1 
75.5 
Average of minimum, 1885 
10.3° 
31.6° 
44.0° 
53.0° 
Average of minimum, 1886 
23.4 
37.8 
45.7 
53.2 
19.4 
32.1 
50.7 
55.9. 
21.1° 
43.8° 
58.0° 
66.9° 
Average mean. 1886 
32.4 
50.4 
58.4 
68.0 
Average mean, 1887 
27.6 
43.8 
65.8 
69.2 
The date of development of several plants were : 
1885. 
1886. 
1887. 
Apple, first bloom 
May 17. 
May 23. 
June 8. 
June 19. 
June 20. 
June 20. 
April 26. 
May 6. 
May 29. 
June 14. 
June 9. 
June 11. 
May 6. 
May 13. 
June l. 
June 8. 
June 7. 
June. 10. 
Raspberrv, first bloom 
Grape, first bloom 
Strawberry, first ripe 
Pea, first edible 
These figures are, however, of little interest for this discussion, and 
yet are worthy of presentation for future use, if only to call attention 
to the necessity of meteorological work as a preliminary to attempts 
at field work. Too much of our experimental work has been of little 
service on account of our not understanding sufficiently well the 
fundamental conditions under which growth and development have 
taken place. The statement may, however, concern us, that variation 
in crop from the influence classed under climatic may be greater than 
that which arises from ordinary omissions or applications of fertilizing 
elements, and I most seriously believe that through a proper under- 
standing of climatic factors and physical relations thereof, we may 
conquer the power to influence physical conditions, so as to largely 
modify unfavoring climatic conditions. This conclusion may find 
