| Summary: | Newsletter of the North Dakota School for the Deaf. SUPPLEMENT TO THE NORTH DAKOTA BANNER NO. 2. old order of things and make improvements that will enable him to grasp an additional profit without the trouble and annoyance of making the experiments that lead to new discoveries. A comparatively small amount of lignite coal was mined and burned in this state ten years ago and almost every one who used it began its use because of its cheapness, and not having the proper devices for burning it, there were numerous complaints of its being poor fuel, and it has grown in disfavor. To-day it is not so. Numerous devices for burning it for domestic use and as a steam coal have demonstrated beyond question that the analysis of North Dakota lignite as compared with other fuel is correct and that commercially it stands to-day on a par if not better than many of the eastern coals for steam purposes, and as a domestic fuel it certainly has no equal in this market. Thirty of the most progressive stove manufacturers in the east are vieing with each other in producing the best lignite burner, and almost the entire stove trade is inquiring for devices to consume our native coal. The efforts to burn successfully this fuel that lies at our very threshold should receive the attention of every class of citizens of our state and should be encouraged by legislation to any reasonable extent. Our railroads should co-operate as some are now doing to make a rate that would encourage its general use at distant points from the mines. The extent of our coal lands have-not been definitely determined, but enough is known to fully justify the statement that we have the very best quality of lignite in inexhaustable quantities and more than sufficient for many thousand years to come.” -- The climate of North Dakota is more pleasant than it is generally thought to be by those who have not experienced it or consulted statistics on the subject. The popular belief that winters are of arctic severity is not warranted by the meteorological records that have been kept in the state for the past thirty-five years; and although these records have been broken at different times, yet on the whole enough has been collected to give a fair idea of the climate. The first records of temperature and precipitation taken in the state were at Fort Abercrombie, in the upper Keel River Valley, in February, 1859, and soon after a number of stations were established in different parts of North Dakota, which have continued and been supplemented by others up to the present dale. The mean annual range in temperature or the difference between the highest and lowest in any year, amounts to from 101 to 141 deg"=es- The extreme maximum tempo, alu. e ranges from 101 to no degrees, and the extreme minimum from 34 below zero to 55 below, but it is not to be supposed that such readings are often recorded or that the extremes are of long duration. And from the fact that the humidity or moisture in the air is always low, these periods of extreme heat or cold arc not accompanied by the discomfort or distress that is experienced in the seaboard states, where the humidity is high with temperatures quite different from the ones found here. Taking the variability of temperature, or the change that takes place in the daily average temperature front one day to another, irrespective of whether it has risen or fallen, and it is found that it amounts to only 4 degrees from June to August inclusive while in January and February, when the changes are the most sudden and severe, they only amount to 9 degrees. During April the mean temperature ranges from 37 to 46 degrees, and the increase is general and rapid from then to June, when it ranges from 63 to 70 degrees; and so quickly do these temperature conditions change, with a steady rise, that the average increase amounts to over degree for each day during the season when all vegetation is coming rapidly to the front and is in need of heat while during July and August when most of the crops, especially small grain, are maturing, it ranges, as a rule, from 68 to 73 degrees. The mean annual precipitation is slightly over 17 inches, varying from 13 inches in the extreme north-central portion to 20 in the northeastern and 26 in the southern and southwestern. November is the month of less precipitation while June has the greatest, following next in order by May or July. The precipitation increases from about an average of inch in November to about 4 inches in June, and decreases again to November. By dividing the year into two seasons, one wet and the other dry, the annual precipitation is less in the state than in the great grain producing states of the Mississippi valley, that the principal part of it falls during the season when It is most needed—in the spring and summer. During the winter, owing to the clear days and the absence of precipitation, the weather cannot be surpassed; and while the temperature may go to 20 or 30 degrees below zero during the night, it usually rises to above zero during the day; and as in extreme cold weather there is scarcely any wind, the cold is not severely felt; while in the summer, although the days are warm, the temperature usually goes low enough during the night to make the evenings cool and comfortable and still not low enough to endanger or retard vegetation. The time of occurrence of first killing frost is from August 4 to Sept. 30, the average date being Sept. 10, and of last killing frost in spring from March 17 to June 24, the average date being May 14.”—B. H. Bronson in the Fargo Record. "The seasons in the Red River Valley and of the Turtle Mountains and Devils Lake country just west, do not differ practically front those of New England, Ontario and New York. Spring opens during the latter part of March—often earlier—and seeding actively begins in early April, and is usually completed before the middle of May. Harvest begins from the 1st to the 10th of August. The first autumn frosts may ordinarily' be looked for in September. Fall is a season of delightful weather. The freezing up of the ground so as to stop plowing takes place from the middle of November to the 1st of December. Spring frosts occur as iate as the middle of May, but very seldom cause any damage as wheat and other small grains are not injured by frosts before the formation of the stalk. In the earlier days teamsters traveled with heavy loads all winter between the river points and Fort Totten on Devils Lake, 100 miles west, as well as to other military posts, across an unsettled country, and also from Winnipeg and Fargo and Grand Forks to Pembina, with the same security and confidence that would be met with in the eastern or middle states. The people pursue their out-door work during the winter season the same as in other parts of the country, but with less discomfort. There is general absence of mud, slush, rain, or damp, raw winds; the cold is steady' and dry; it may sting, but it never chills or gives one the shivers. Much of the building in the towns in the valley' is in the winter time. Cattle and sheep are at large a greater part of the cold season, feeding at the hay and straw stacks, and many get no shelter but that furnished in the timber.”— Great Northern Bulletin. “ The state commissioner of agriculture and labor has issued an official bulletin compiled from reports made to him, and from estimates conservatively made, showing that the value of farm products of North Dakota for ISgy is $66,040,000, or S280 per capita, or Si,500 for the head of each family in the state. These are the figures: 40,000,000 bu. of wheat, S35,000,000; 4,500,000 bu. flax, $4,500000; 9,000,000 bu. barley, $3,000,000; 38,000,000 bu. oats, $7,500,000; 3,000,000 bu. potatoes, $1,500,000; 2,000,000 pounds wool, $240,000; poultry and eggs, Si,800,000; milk and milk products, $2,500,000: live stock, $10,000,000. Ninety per cent of the population of the state belong strictly to the agricutural class, and it will be seen among whom this vast amount of wealth is distributed. The above figures
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