The record-union., 1896-02-03


recent information upon this subject,
and has distributed thousands of copies
throughout the State. The issue hav-
ing become exhausted, and as the de-
mand for it still continues, which is evi-
dence that farming communities are
seeking all the light possible whereby
their calling may be made more profit
able, and recognizing the great value
OF compilations of this character, the
State Agricultural Society has decided,
with permission of the authors, to re-
publish extracts from the pamphlet 1t
will be found further on in this volume,
and in this way it will be preserved for
reference by anyone desiring most ac-
curate information upon the sugar beet
industry.
WEATHER SERVICE.
The Weather Bureau branch of our
department is of much value, not only
to the people of our State, but also in
enlightening the outside world as to our
grandeur in climatic sense, and call
ing attention to our Incompatible quail
ties as a resort for the invalid and the
pleasure-seel1er, and as the place for
those who are searching for homes
away from the East, where three to five
months of severe winter weather must
be endured.
This branch of the California State
Agricultural Society, under whose lib
eral aid and hearty cooperation with
the United States Weather Bureau De-
partment at Washington, d. c.. (Pro-
fessor Willis L. Moore, Chief, it has
always maintained, has grown in popu-
larity from the time it was inaugurated
by the present Secretary, in the fall of
1881, until at the present time it has
become one of the actual necessary at
tachments of this society. It was
through the medium of this society that
the California State Weather Service
was fostered and brought from its
infancy, in 1891, to the present eff1ci-
eney and popularity, under the able
management of it's original and present
director, James A. Barwick. In fact,
the value of this weather service is so
great that, to consult the climatic feat
ures and collected data of this State
since 1919 all must come to the files of
our societys annual reports, which
TEEN with climatic data representing
nearly every county in the State.
The Weekly Weather Crop Bulletin,
which was inaugurated several years
ago by the California Weather Service,
and issued by this society in co-opera-
ton with that service, continually
grows in favor, and is repubIished in
full in the DAILY Bulletin" Weekly
Rural Press" "The California Fruit
Grower" of San Francisco, and the
Record Union" of Sacramento, while
the weekly press of the State are full of
quotations from the crop bulletins. The
summary of each bulletin is furnished
to the press association agents, who
send it broadcast over the land on each
Monday evening, to appear in the pa
pers on Tuesday mornings.
Since the United States Weather Bu-
reau Department, Washington, D. c.,
has established a forecast station in San
Francisco (to which place has beer ap-
pointed some of the most expert forecast
officers), the value of such forecasts to
the various industries of our State has
been great. In September, 1895. oc-
Cured the heaviest rains ever known
in this valley for that month. This un-
precedented moisture would have
caused much damage to the raisin in
dustry of this State if a forewarning
had not been ISSUED by Mr.. Harmon,
the forecast officer stationed at San
several hours before the rain
began. This single warning was worth
thousands of dollars to the raisin-
growers of this State; in fact, it saved
more than will be required to maintain
every weather bureau station on this
coast for five years to come.
We are proud to inform the people of
this State that the good results of our
cooperation with the United States
Weather Department in the printing
and distribution of this weekly and
meteorological and crop data
are now made manifest by the very
frequent inquiries asking for copies
of reports of any kind published. From
almost every civilized country in the
world we have acknowledgements Of the
receipt of our weather data.
Beginning in October, 1895 dn which
month we stopped issuing the weekly
crop bulletin for the past season., we
through Director Barwick,
the meteorologist of this society," the
issuance of a monthly weather and crop
bulletin. Letters are received from peo-
pie in all portions of the valley where
crops grow, and from the data thus OBJ
tanned a sheet about eighteen inches
long by nine inches wide is issued about
the 9th or 7th of the month following
that for which it is the record. This
additional service has been well re-
ceived, especially by the people of the
East, as this State and Oregon are the
only ones that are now or ever have
been publishing this monthly data in
sheet form
OTHER AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.
Nothing could better illustrate Cali
fornia's diversity of climate than the
holding, during the pres
ent month, of a citrus fair in the central
part of the State, whereat is shown all
the fruits of the tropics, and of an ice
carnival in the eastern portion. This
fact also indicates various conditions
of soil, capable of producing an assort-
ment of products.
The possibilities are favorable for an
extension of trade in many agricultural
and horticultural products. The fruit
grower should look more closely to the
pa acking of the dried product. This class
of fruit should be graded and sold in
boxes of from five to fifty pounds in
weight Some opposition to this may
be made temporarily by the jobber who
works over and rehandles our dried
fruits, but when he finds that all the
superior fruit is being sold in original
packages, he will be compelled to han
die what the consumer requires. In
the extension of trade in our products
it might be suggested that there are
here for the manufacture
of citric acid from the inferior grades
of lemons: also grape sugar and ex-
tracts of all kinds. Broom corn is an
other product that we import and pay