The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1876-07-26
The Signal Service.

Progress is bold and daBhing, and
laughs defiantly at the traditions of the
elders, and makes no bones of slapping
the wrinkled jaws of age. 1t has made
lightning a plaything and measured
the bounds of the stormy winds. The
past few years have developed an in
crease Of knowledge in general meteor
ology that is as astounding as it i
authentic. Our government, usually
SO chary about atfording assistance to
any scientific enterprise, has made a
generous exception in the matter of
weather winds, clouds, tides, etc.
and established n bureau, with branch
officers all over the country, for its
special study and record. The benefits
growing out Of this system to the
farmer, the mariner, in fact to all and
even industrial class, are inealcnlable.
Natures laws are immutabh
ing years bring kindred SEQ
h itiit 4 5fii} hecessar fnatl L ta5f5dg Illlgs
painstaking study be made of effect IN
nature, and the laws will be revealed.
Already this bureau predicts the
weather with confidence for three days
in advance, and it Is not too much
to assert that at no remote period
il will be able to predicate of the
seemingly tickle winds and clouds u
week and even more with an accuracy
born of intimate knowledge. BY an
admirable system of telegraphic lines
that girdle our coast, a cyclone born in
the Caribbean sea is heraided in Maine
three or four days III advance of its
reaching that point, thus enabling
sailing craft to seek a secure harbor,
and il seems not improbable that the
day Il near Mt hand when ocean steam
ers will regulate their departures by
tho weather representations of the
signal bureau. So the farmer, even
now, IN the harvest days, looks with
anxiety t0 the utterances of this med
ern soothsayer, and measures the
strokes of his soythc by his mandate.
Some idea of the extent of the system
may be CLEANED from The follow.
ing statement. There are in the
United State eighty-cight telegraphic
reporting stations; twenty special
| river stations eleven full obser-
vations by mail stations; three print.
ing stations-a total Of one hundred
and twenty-five. In addition to these
there are seven in the West Indies and
nineteen in British America and Can.
ada. Gen. Myor (tOld Probs } thus
summarizes the extent Of the diffusion
of information obtained through thesg
manifold sources:
"By the publications of this office
by the signals displayed by day oi
| night ut times Of probable danger; BY
| the announcement of probable changes
Of weather in the synopsis and proba
bilities furnished thrice daily to the
press the farmers bulletin exhibited
at SO many villages and hamlets in tbs
interior the river and canal reports
made with reference to the rive
and canal interests the bulletins anC
data exhibited AZ all the great cite
and ports; the symbol mass displayet
in board Of trade rooms and rooms O
chamber Of commerce the weekly
Chronicle and monthly Weather Re
view, furnished to agricultural soeie
ties, commercial associations and cor
respondents of the Office the dali,
weather maps, the monthly charts
and finally the condensing the result
| of years of observation, the informs
ten emanating from this office is re
eeived in some form daily, at not les
han one-third OF all the households Q
| the United States. Courier ,Jottr1lo