368 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. JULY, 1917
didly planned and sumptuously a pareled re orts on of Maryland were f d y matchezby the
series of reports on the climate and e State. Moreover the two sciences were
b no means held rigidly apart in his philosophical View o 9 things. The contents of the elegant epoch-making first Report of the Maryland Weather Service in 1899
testified to Clarks broad understanding of the inter- relation necessarily existin between geology and meteor-
tologjst in Maryland, and the promise was richly fulflled. Takmg advantage of his position as State Geologist, he inserted in each of the county geological reports a more
or less detailed chapter on the climate of the county, prepared by an experienced climatologist. Thus there
appeared with brief intermissions-
ology. The volume was P ull of promise for the clima-
Climate of All any County, by 0. L. Fawig. 15p. 1900. Climate of Ce%County, by 0. L. Faeaig, 13p. 1902. Climate of Garrett County, by 0. L. Fasslg. 21p. 1902. Climate of Calvert Count , by C. F. von Herrmmn. 37p. 1907. Climate of Saint Marys %unty, by C. F. von Herrm-. 30p.
Climate of Prince Georges County, by W. H. Alexander. 21p.
Climate of Ann Arundel County, by 0. L. Fassig. Up. 1917.
Again in the report of the Maryland Geological Survey, volume 6 (Baltimore, 1906), we find Clark devoti ages (224-237) to a review of the general climate o the &,ate in its boarin on the engineering, roadbuilding,
The second and third volumes of the Maryland Weather Service, as the above uotations show, have also proven
tions for other regions. At least one other treatise, pub- lished in the United States in 1913, shows the stron in-
E. L. Vow1 states that he took the lan of $01. I1 as a model for his own monoga h on t ?l e rainfall of South
It is but just to point out here that in all this work for Maryland geolo . and climatology Prof. Clark secured
respective Federal services,a as well as of the Maryland State Agricultural Colle e (through Milton Whitney), so that his energy and adfiress enabled the State to which he devoted his lifes service to rofit greatly by resources beyond its own conhes. An1 not the State alone has rofited. The strong State institutions he understood to guild up were buttresses in time of need to Johns Hopkins University, and the most convincing proofs of how an advanced university increases the wealth of the State that harbors her, by traini
I
the sons of the State for
1907.
1911.
Y l4
and geological prob r ems peculiar to Maryland. -
patterns and standar 8 s for subsequent similar publica-
fluence exerted by the publications planned b Dr. C f ark.
America, being unable to fin B another work as good.
and retained the 7? earty cooperation of the much wealthier
hgher labors in the service ?i o that State.+. A., jr.
Thomas Mikesell, 184!5-1917.
By J. WARREN SMITE, Meteorologist in Charge.
[Division of Agricultursl Meteorology, Weather Bureau, Aug. 25,1917.1
In the death of Thomas Mikesell at Wauseon Ohio July 18, 1917, the world lost an earnest student oi nature and a remarkable phenological record was brought to a close. Mr. Mikesell was born on the homestead farm 1 mile north of Wauseon, Au st 9, 1845, and was the son of William and Margaret ayes) Mikesell, who moved from
1 Vw8, Erwt Ludwig. Die Niederschla sverhiiltnisse von Siidamerika. Peterm.
f See ~ONTHLY WEXTEEB REVIEW, June 1895, W:210; and Oct., 1899, 27:472-3. Mittell. Ergitnzbd. 33, hft. 157. Qotha, l&. Sec p. ivof the Vome.de.
western Pennsylvania in 1837. In June, 1863, he en- listed in Compan H, Eighty-sixth Volunteer Infantry,
from 1865, when he took up the study of Broc lesbys Meteorology. He soon beoan k e e p i y journal of the weather, and when, in the pall of 1869, e returned to the farm where he was born, he obtained some meteorological instruments and be an a series of careful records that were not terminate % until June 27, 1917, less than one month before his death. Beginning with 1882 self- registerin thermometers were in use, but durin all of the perio% he took eye readings three times da&, and
and served until 6 ebruary 10, 1864.
E dated Mr. Mikesells special interest in meteorolog
F~ct I -inomas Mikesell 1845-1917 wperative observer 01 me u S Signal Serviee
oi the Ohio State Mete&ologiesl &vice, and of the U. 8. Weathe; Bkeftu from 1876 to 1917, at Wauseon, Ohio.
previous to 1882 were made at the part of the day for each twenty-
It was in the phenol0 cal observations, however, that the prodigious work of I%. Mikesell, as well as his ability for observing and recording in detail assing events, was brought out. In Monthly Weather Keview Sup lement
lo cal records kept by Mr. Mikesell. One table s ows 8
tjigerent important dates in the development of 16 differ-
No. 2 (Washi ton, 1915) this bureau publishe tz tables showing a goo ?f many of the meteorological and heno-
1:
JULY, 1915. JMONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW. 369
ent kinds of fruits, together with the quality and quantity, from 1883 to 1912. Another gives 7 s i d a r items for 20
different fruits and garden cro s, another 8 items for 48
during the period of discussion. Still other tables s Elants owed shows the dates of blossoming of 114 different
the d d v rnasimuni, minimum, and mean temperatures, and daily rainfall, the dates of first and last frosts, freezing weather; temperatures of Oo, 20, and 90 F.; first and last snows, thunderstorms, etc. Even these tables, however, include only art of the
For example, the publishe: tagle gives the following dates for the King apple: Buds started, first fully formed led, in f u l l leaf, first bloom, full bloom, fruit ripe, complete change in foliage, divested of leaves, quantity of fruit, and quality of fruit; his manuscript records, however, show the same data for all the different varieties of apples raised in that vicinity. In the iublished tables
mond c I? erry, Concord grapes, etc., while his rword covers all the different vaneties of these various fruits that are grown in t-hat latitude. The published table ives likewise the dates: Planted, above around, in flossom, ripe, ready for use, per cent of 008 crop, and
different fruit trees, shrubs, an a vines, while afourth table
large number of records ke t b this reniar R able man.
data are ven for the Bartlett pear, t h e early Rich-
quality of crop, for 20 different field anc f garden crops;
but his record includes the same data for a large number of different varieties of all these crops. His records were not confined to the life history of plants, but as might be expected from one who was so interested in the world of nature about him, he showa the movement of 60 different varieties of birds. The dates when each was first seen to ether with the number observed, date next seen, date w !i en they became common, and tho dates when last seen, were very carefully ob- served. He became an associate member of the American Ornithologist Union in 1885 and was a c.orrespondent of this organization as weJl as of the Division of Economic Ornithology of the IT. S. Department of Agriculture. His manuscripts also include some records for a great part of the insect and small animal life that may be found in rural districts in the latitude of his home in