The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-11-12

kites nrc flown. II has electric reels
machinery.
| could swing upon them ami be safe
trem Falling. Nevertheless. The wire Is
not as thick as u darning needle and
VI Is so flexible that you can tie It like
| string.
BALLOON JnrcstiRntiuns.
IN addition to the kites, Uncle sam
{ has now system Of balloon record
J .ns OF the weather He makes bal
looms OF dlneren, kinds and SENDS them
ip at the various stations Owe. the
/ United states 10 bring down records
| OF the upper air. These are sent up
from day to day, and the results are
tclcSra phed. all over the country. II
Is partially from them that our wealth
er forecasts come. These balloons are
| hlled with hydrogen OF a quality which
Is difficult to obtain Indeed there
are only one Or two Places In the coun-
| try where u can be had. The resnit is
that the government makes its own
hydrogen, and IL has a great machine
FOR the purpose here at Noun; Wealth
or. hydrogen. You know. is one of
me two gases which form water The
other gas is oxygen. The oxygen has
TO he taken out and only the pure
hydrogen left This is done by means
OF electricity. the machine for the pur-
pose having been imported from
Switzerland The hydrogen is stored
In little round cylinders, each about as
thick and long AS the leg Of the aver
age man. The cylinders are sealed SO
| that they are absolutely tight, and are
shipped by freigi, to the various
! weather stations
returning to the balloons many or
those which are now being sent up
are equipped with parachutcs which
extend above them. AS the balloon
rises into the upper air it finally
reaches an altitude at which ii bursts
i, IL carries with 1t one OF these boxes
containing the fine Instruments. This
Is attached to the parachute. and for
this reason IT falls so gently that the
machinery is not injured Attached to
the box and also TO the box kites are
pieces of writing. which state that a
reward Will be given to any one who
VIII send the box to the nearest wealth
er station For this reason the farm
ers watch for the kites. and carefuII,-
take them to the scientists when thcv
fall, -
| Fifty Mi1fou Dollars Yenr,
II is estimated that the Weather
Bureau saves TO the people of The Unit
ca states something like $50.00O.O0O a
year. This Is SO cents for every man.
woman and child in the country. 1t
toretells the storms, prophecies the ad-
vent OF heat and cold, and gives you
warning OF the cyclone or hurricane,
long before II comes Last year W..
had x number OF hurricanes. and tho
year before the air or certain parts of
INC country was full of them. July 81
i 1913, the Galveston hurricane occurred.
About month later another great
storm struck the mouth of the Rio
Irande' and in September there was
third on the Louisiana coast. Just
| about month after that a hurricane
was feit at Key West. All or these
| were very dangerous. but owing 10 the
warnings Of the Weather Bureau no
| iiVes were lost Indeed, 1t is said tina
! by the advice of the bureau 1000 work
| men %erc taken off tho Florida East
coast railroad, then being extended and
| thereby saved from Injury and loss of
life.
| a great saving was made through
| similar warnings at the time of the
| floods on the Missouri and MissjssinDi
| during which something like $4,000
200 worth of damage was done. These
| hoods caused the OVERLOOKING of a mill
lion acres of farm lands and a loss in
crops Of more than 100000. Never
! theless. Secretary Wilson states that
| the warnings of tho flood saved prop
erty to the value OF a million dollars
\ OF moro.
ForecastinB the Weather,
During my stay here at Mt weather
! nave been talking with Professor A.
| d. Henry the superintendent of this
station, and with the other scientists
| mere as to weather forecasts and as to
| the experiments they are making
| along such lines. Professor Henry tells
me some remarkable things about The
winds and the changes which they have
according to their altitude. These III
designations arc important in view of
the aerial flights now being made. In
order to get the percentages $500 OBJ
servations have been taken of tho
winds at various attitudes. resulting
III tables Of value. The subject is too
complicated to discuss In popular
way. except to say that there is an
| enormous difference in the winds ac-
cording to tho layers or distance above
the earth, and that each great storm
is combination OF many winds NOV
ing this way and that. but In the gen
| eral direction OF the storm.
Dr. Wills Moore. the head Of tho
/ weather Bureau, has recently published
| most interesting book on the gcioncc
of tho weather 1t liz entitled De
scriptire Meteorolosy,' and it came
from the press of Appleton & Com
pany only few months ago. In this
| hc taxes UP All matters relating to tho
atmosphere and how our weather Is
| made.
One of his chapters deals with fore
casting and the making OF the daily
| weather charts which are put uD In the
post offices and public buildings all over
! the country. According to this we find
| that observations are taken every
morning at the two hundred weather
stations scattered throughout the
United States and the West Indies, and
J that tho pressure of the air. the tenn
perature, the humidity, the rainfall
OF snowfall, and tho cloudiness at each