The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-10-20
A Land of Sunshine.
FROM ,l.c Sgu Yora sun

The importance nf sunshine to acricul
ture has isd some governments e. collect
data a. t. the number Of hour, Of sunshine
their countries recriye on an average. The
quantity OF sunshine the atmosphere n
ceiveS l. very nearly constant from year to
wear, but the pFopartion that reaches the
surface Of the earth yaris, according to
the distribution Of claudincSs Sunshine
Is now rccariei automatically At - uf The
regular stations &c our weather bureau
Every moa,h the Monthly Weather Re
view prints a map showing the Distribution
Of sunshine throughout the COUNTRY. For
example. the map for March las, shows
that the northeastern United States, in
Guiding most IT the region of the creaf
Lakes, had sunshine for less than one third
Of the daylight hour There Wa a much
larger amoant 81 Sunshine IN mast Of the
southern s.ag,4 and oa the grea, glsins
OF course, the part Of the country that
always has the greats; amount ii sunshine
Is the subarii regions of the southwest
The amount Of sunshine, measured IN
hour,, Is automatically recorded By VARIOUS
Instruments Some Observers use spheT,'
Of glas, by which the sun RAYS are focused
on a curved sbee, Of paper At al hours Of
the day Others scgure = photographic
print at the track uf a hnc s1lar Fay that
falls through a minute aperture on sensitive
paper When there Is even a faint cloudi
ness over the sun 1t may b. recognized by
the faintuess Of the reoord. and when
heavy clouds cover the sun there i. q
course. no recori At all Thus the mum
Der If hours Of sunshine i ascrrtainel and
it Is easy Ia reach mathematical statement
Of the prevalence Of clear OF cloud y weather
If it we're nut for the many h0urs It
sunshine during the summer months On the
western plains If Canada. she could MT
npen her great crup Of wheat There arr
three reasons shy that region get an un-
EQUATION amount ot sunshine In the trsi
place, there l. not yery much 5suiy
weather Thsu the eiryumiercnoe 81 the
earth Is ~ much less where the Manitoba
wheat fields arr than IL Is AZ the equator
that The pece or the daily rcyolution j.
al>o much les Auy gwen area of land
IN Manitoba passes from under the sun :
rays much more slowly than At the equator.
Moreover, a everybody knows, the farther
north one goes the longer i the summer
day unul at the north pole the day lasts
for six months ~ the length Of the day
in Manitoba, the slow passage Of the sun
over the wheat aud the absence Of cloud
make the ripeniug of the grain very con
tlnuous, rapid aud perfect For the same
reason, corn may be raised in Canada in
the high latitude, for that grain Of - de-
grees north.
To be sure, Manitoba, being 50 far
north, receives its sunshine more slant
wise than it would nearer the equator,
but the advantages above enumerated fully
compensate for the lesser intensity of the
sun rays.
In Europe, however, there is great
deal more cloudy weather in the north
than in the south and 50 the duration Of sun
shine increases rapidly from north to south.
1t is smallest in northwest Europe and
greatest in Spain. Scotland has, on an
average, only 3 ) hours of sunshine daily
the year round, Ireland has about 81
hours, England nearly four, Germany 4 )
TO FIVE, France five to six, Austria FIVE to
seven and Spain seven 10 eight hours daily.
Thus Madrid has ,, $50 hours of sunshine
every year, Vienna $50 hours, Ham
burg / $40 hours and London 030
hours.
There is good deal more cloud and
rain in west than in east England, because
the mountains in the west condense the
clouds and cause heavy rains. So it hap
pens that the grass lands of the country,
which require great deal of rain, are
found chiefly in the west, while the grain
and fruit regions are in the SUMMER and
drier part of the country east of the noun
tains, for they mature best in a relatively
dry and clear climate