This being the case it necessarily follows that if "Low" is on a high line of latitude, say 45° to 50° N., we will have south winds, which are warm. If "Low" is on a low line, say in the Cotton States, to the north thereof we will have cold north winds. "High" representing the atmospheric hill, there is no movement of air towards it; so no warm air, or more than relatively warm, can be present in the area of "High" and the atmosphere there must necessarily be relatively cool.

It will be seen that what warm "the wind," and the movement of "Low," which produces the winds, are quite different forces; yet it is often asked if the speed of "Low" is caused by the power of wind. The wind is dependent upon "Low" and not "Low" upon the wind.

Although "High" follows and surrounds "Low" it does not do so in any regular manner. Nature in this department is very irregular, and the WeatherMap which is, as it were, a photograph of these changes of the atmosphere from hour to hour, plainly reveals this, and shows that "High" follows and moves with "Low" over the country; entering generally at the west, locally from the south to the extreme northwest, and that the two pass over the country in all conceivable shapes and on all sorts of lines.

We may imagine the whole of the atmosphere as a great sea of " High with the valley "Low" moving through it. Sometimes alternate areas of "Low" and " High" pass from the west towards the east; sometimes the "High" will be in the north, the "Low" in the south; the "High" in the south and "Low" in the north, or additional variety be given by combinations of these factors. Then this variety is still increased by their size, shape and speed as they pass across the country.

When we have made ourselves familiar with these forces and their movements we will be prepared to understand the peculiar features of the weatherwhy it is hot at the north while cool at the south-why one season is cool, wet or dry, another hot and dry, or even wet; no matter what the weather may be, the Map satisfactorily explains it all.

"High" and "Low" travel in irregular belts. At times we will have "Low" in the north; "High" central, and another belt of "Low" to the south. This neutralizes the effects of heat and cold. Take away the north "Low" and it will be very cold in the south, and in winter, the Gulf States be apt to have a snow-storm; take away the south "Low" and it will be very warm throughout the country. During the winter and spring we generally have more south"Lows," and "Lows" which travel from the southwest to the northeast, than in the summer. But there is no regularity about it. A so-called "northeast storm" is the result of a southwest "Low," or an area of low barometer advancing from the southwest.

When a storm-centre is to the west of a locality that locality will have an easterly wind, and when the centre has passed to the east a westerly wind will follow in its track, west, southwest, or northwest, depending on the line on which the "Low" is travelling.

Whether the storm produces rain or snow depends somewhat on the season, but more especially on the latitude of "Low."

Local storms comes from the confines, or outer lines of the passing "Low," and mostly occur during the warmer month when "Low is on a high line of latitude, or when there is not any very well-defined centre. A tornado is a severe local storm which occurs in the track of "Low" and generally when "Low" is on a high line, or passing to a high line.

It would require too much space to enumerate all the changes. A close observation of the Weather-Map for a season will explain all. When we have become familiar with this map we will readily see the absurdity of the statements made by the so-called "weather-prophets." They often say "it will be pleasant or stormy." "When?" is the pertinent question, for we see that it all depends upon the location and relation of these two factors "High" and "Low." It may be very stormy weather in one section and not in the other. Until the "weather-prophet" can locate his storms and give us the positions of "High" and "Low" he had better remain silent; and if he remains silent till then, he will be forever a silent man.

At present the territory from Nebraska to the Atlantic Coast is well supplied with stations, but from there to the Pacific we have very few, and these far apart. As most of our storms come from the west it would be a great advantage to us to have more stations in this locality; not only due west but well to the southwest and to the northwest, from Lower California to the British Possessions.

A few storms come from the south. We should, therefore, be prepared to have ample warning in regard to them, and have stations through Mexico and one or two sea-stations in the Gulf of Mexico, and a few more on the West India Islands. We need protection from the west generally; that is, give the most generous interpretation to the term west, for these storm-centres as they pass around the world are liable to travel, as we often see them in the United States for a distance of 1,000 or 1,500 miles due north. We should be prepared against these erratic or occasional ones as well as against those of a more regular course which enter our territory by the regular west-gate.

Most of the "Lows" that pass over the United States pass to the northeast, either through the St. Lawrence Valley, or somewhere between there and Cape Hatteras; hence the prevalence of fog and stormy weather off this northeast

coast.

More interest should be centered on this subject. When this is done it will not be difficult to obtain more stations in the localities where they are so much needed.

There is a bright day ahead for this despised branch of science, and when it arrives our Weather Bureau will become one of the most influential branches of government, and one we will support in the most effectual manner, because of the practical benefits we will derive from its more perfect state. The Map will open to us new avenues of pleasure and interest; and when its beauties and prac

tical value are fully understood we will begin to realize the revolution it has wrought.

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 2, 1884.

A REMARKABLE HAILSTORM.

S. A. MAXWELL.

At 9 o'clock on April 1st, a hailstorm visited this section, so remarkable in some respects that I thought a short description of it would be of interest to the readers of the REVIEW.

The preceding day had been remarkable for a rise in temperature from 38° in the morning to 64° at 3 o'clock P. M. At 9 P. M. the temperature was 54°. The wind on the morning of the 31st was from the east, but at 9 o'clock it changed to the south, from which direction it blew quite briskly all day.

Early on the morning of the 1st there was a light shower with east wind. This was followed by a fog and light sprinkles of rain until 8:50 A. M., when the clouds became so dense that it was difficult to read ordinary print on account of darkness. At just 9 o'clock rain began to fall and five minutes later the hail was first noticed.

The largest stones were three and a half inches in circumference, and their shapes were so varied and extraordinary that the storm must certainly be called the most wonderful ever occurring here.

First, there was the ordinary spherical form,-some of these being entirely transparent, and others containing masses of snow at the centre.

Secondly, the lens-shaped stones, some nucleated and others not. Thirdly, what I would call the condyloid form, since it resembled a button. It would have been lens-shaped but for two circular creases on the opposite sides. Outside of the crease the stone was of unequal transparency, lines of white seeming to diverge from the crease to the circumference; but when these were looked at edgewise they were seen to be circular. The following diagram illustrates the form of a fourth variety. This is but a modification of number two, the lens-form. Number five was the

most remarkable of all, and if any scientist can account for its form I would be pleased to hear from him. It is a modification of the so-called condyloid form, and this very accurately re

presents the form of about one-tenth of the

large stones that fell here during the storm.

The part marked "a" was usually one bo

inch across, one-third of an inch thick and

usually with a nucleus of snow. "b" is a

a

C

small, thin appendage, while directly opposite was a curious plate of ice "c" one

fourth of an inch thick, the margin (being marked with lines as above described), resembling a horseshoe. The center of this part was thinner and transparent.

Of eighteen large stones picked up, two were spherical, thirteen lens-shaped, two with horseshoe attachment and one like number four, which might be called the crucial form. Of these eighteen hail-stones only seven had nuclei. Some of them also had a peculiar roughness, comparable to that on the rind of an orange, which I think I have never observed before.

More than an hour has now passed since the storm ceased, yet from my window I can still see a few of the hail-stones that have been diminished to the size of a pea by a temperature of forty nine degrees.

MORRISON, ILL., April 1, 1884.

RUSSIAN FRUITS FOR AMERICAN PRAIRIES.

PROF. A. E. POPENOE.

A bulletin lately received from the Iowa State Agricultural College is occupied by the account of Professor Budd's "Experiments with, and Investigation of, the Fruits, Trees and Shrubs of the North of Europe." In the search for varieties of fruits adapted to the trying extremes of climate met in Iowa, Profes sor Budd was led, several years since, to look to the north of Europe for varieties not then on our list, in hope that they would prove better adapted to the needs of the northwestern horticulturist than the fruits originating in the moist equable climate of the countries along the western European coast, the latter sorts having been found wanting when subject to the severe tests of the Iowa winters and summers. In company with Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbottsford, Quebec, Professor Budd visited the interior of Russia at points where fruitgrowing was extensively and profitably engaged in, and in climates resembling, in high, dry winds and changes to the extremes of temperature, those of the northwestern states in the Mississippi Valley. Portions of the reports of these two horticulturists are of such interest to the Kansas fruit-grower that they may be here quoted. "The east European plain, the counterpart of our western prairies and plains, covers the larger portion of continental Europe, or the northeast. * * With the Caucasus and Carpathian mountains on the south, the prevailing winds prevent the moisture of the Caspian and Black seas from benefiting even the provinces nearly adjoining them; while the dry winds of the deserts and sterile steppes of the southeast shrivel the foliage of trees and plants in Central Russia, as do our southwest winds from the dry plains of New Mexico. * * As to sudden changes of temperature and humidity of air, our one summer's experience favored the idea that changes of the wind brought atmospheric changes as sudden and complete as with us. As to winter changes, we are told at Tula of a winter, twelve years ago, when a warm, south

east wind, taking off all the snow, was followed by a northern down-pour, running the thermometer down to forty-five degrees below zero."

In the province of Kazan, on the upper waters of the Volga, and about 430 miles east of Moscow, the peasantry and some landed proprietors are largely engaged in apple-growing. An orchard thirty years of age is described as consisting of six varieties, fall and winter sorts, fourten feet apart, and standing not over fifteen feet in height, the largest measuring only five inches in diameter. The conclusion was reached by the observations made in the province named, that the varieties there so largely cultivated will be found profitable in Dakota and Minnesota. In Simbirsk, where "every available spot is planted with apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, the summer air is as dry and hot during the day as that of Iowa. The extreme winters, which come as with us at intervals of from six to eight years, are colder than in any part of Minnesota," the temperature of fifty below having been experienced in 1877.

Orchards of 12,000 trees, ninety per cent of them winter varieties, are found at Saratov, and Professor Budd remarks with surprise the systematic management of the orchards, as well as the large, fine-looking fruit produced by them. He states in seasons of unusual drouth the orchards are watered to carry the fruit to maturity. Irrigation is here managed by flowing the water in wooden troughs, supplied by a large reservoir, to basins at the foct of each tree. These reservoirs are kept filled by steam pumps. Worthy of special note was found the system of forestry under the control of the government, the plantations of trees ranging in size from 18,000 to 21,000 acres each, under the oversight of trained foresters, and consisting of Scotch pine, oak, birch, basswood, or elm, in separate tracts, mixed planting not being favorably regarded.

Concerning the much lauded Russian mulberry, it is said to kill back in severe winters, and reports of its use in Russia as a timber-tree are without foundation, unless in the extreme south. Apples were found which were compared by the observers named to our Grimes' Golden, Dominie, White Winter Pearmain, Limber Twig, and other standard sorts, but of better keeping quality and greater vigor of constitution; pears of good quality, perfectly hardy, and, as Professor Budd thinks, capable of resisting blight more or less fully; cherries and plums of superior quality and of great hardiness; and many beautiful and hardy additions to our ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as to the list of profitable trees for forest-planting on our western plains. In a letter to the writer, Professor Budd says: "Our work is not confined to the far northern fruits. The idea is to get the fruits, shrubs, and plants of those portions of Europe with dry, hot summers, and cold winters. Boiken apple, Batullen apple, Bauman's Reinette, etc., Sapieganka pear, and very many other things we grow, are just what Kansas needs. So in the peach line."

Of all these sorts, scions or seeds were secured, and are now in process of trial on the grounds of the Iowa College; and their early dissemination among the intelligent horticulturists of the Northwest will soon show how valuable they are, and how fully the enthusiasm of Mr. Budd is warranted.