, 1891-07-14
A Line of Battle Two Miles
Long to be Formed.
Three Days of Racket and
Then the Deluge.
Dynamite Kites, Balloons and
Mortar Bombs.

active operation. They take with them
three score balloons. each ten feet in
diameter when expanded; likewise about
100 kites. FIVE feet high, a freight car full
of wooden mortars to fire bombs from.
and mauv thousands of pounds of dyna-
mite, gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, and
other powerful agents for agitatinG nature
with spasms. Ii there is not a second
deluge in the region mentioned within
a fortnight, it will not be for lack of effort
on the part of Geu. Dyrenforth and the
department OF agriculture.
Seven thousand dollars yet remain of
the SO 900 appropriated by congress for
this purpose, and so there is no need to
economic on the fireworks for the pre-
liminary experiment. Because it is a
matter of history hat storms have often
followed heavy cannonadlng in warfare,
it has been thought desirable to attack the
sky for this meteorological purpose with a
regular line of battle. A convenient and
excessively arid plain will be selected for
operations, and the wooden mOrsars will
be planted across it in drills, as it were,
for a distance of about two miles. They
will be loaded with dynamite, rackarock,
and other materials calculated to agItate
the atmosphere as much as possible,
while ut suitable intervals of space the
balloons will be arranged for ascension.
simultaneously a flight of kites will be let
loose in the air.
The three score balloons will in them
selves represent an extraordinary scientific
novelty. They are all completed now. aud
each one is calculated to hold about 525
cubic feet of gas-One-third oxygen and
twu-thirds hydrogen. The oxygen is put
in first and then the hydrogen. Each
balloon upon being inflated ascends under
control OF a double wire, which serves in
stead Of a rope to hold it by. When it
| reaches the desired height the button of
an electric instrument on the ground is
touched, a spark ignites a fuse in the bal
loon and the oxygen and hydrogen sud
denly combine with n terrific explosion.
Experim ,nts made within the last few
days in this city show that such an oxy-
hydrogen balloon thus ignited produces a
really tremendous defamation. the cloth or
paper vessel itself appearing for an instant
and by daylight like a bail of FIRE. Few
things can be imagined more curious than
this phenomenon, which signifies that the
two gases, at the touch of fire, have
united in the shape of a drop or two OF
WdJeT, WHICH I'LL uuIu CODSlSLS OF
two parts OF hydrogen and one part of OK
ygeu.
But, as has been said, the balloons will
be supplemented by great kites, each of
which will he held by a doubled wire in
stead of n string. Their tails will carry
dynamite and other explosives which will
be set off in the same wav by electric
sparks. Meantime, while the oxy-hydro-
gen bags explode and the kite tails go
bang, the buried mortars will vomit racka-
rock to the heavens all along the two mile
line. For at least two, and possibly three
days the racket will be kept up. Then
the expedition will hoist Its umbrellas end
calmly await the downpour, consoled for
the inconvenience by the acclamations of
an agricultural population which has
learned to appreciate the fact hat moist
ure is wealth.
1t must not be supposed, however. that
this bombardment OF the heavens will be
conduced without scientific method. Be
fore it is begun, the observers ofthe ex-
Dedition will ascend IN a suitable aeronau-
tic balloon and find out by the way the
hygrometer works at what level the ex-
plosives may be most advautageously set
of. Ii they discover the greatest amount
of moisture at IN elevation of | 500 feet,
tuhl rs tne slTdlum VI hT IN winch tneV
want to do their work. The theory Of
the matter no one pretends to understand
very thoroughly. but it is imagined that
the artificial conbustiticatioD, as scientific
men would say, makes a sort of a vortex
or hole in the air, into which the heavier
moist particles rush, so as to occasion con-
densation and precipitation of rain. 1t is
surmised, also. that the small particles o.
water made by the explosion OF the com
bining oxygen and hyrogen form a sort OF
nucleus for other particles to gather about.
Another important idea is that the watery
particles in the atmosphere being heavier
than the rest OF the air are shaker out oil
it by conclusion and fall upon the earth.
Ill informed persons have been disposed
te scott at the effort which the govern
ment Ia making to sprinkle the arid
regions of this country with a gentle,
though artificial rain from heaven. which
has been compared by Shakespeare to the
quality of mercy. They rave striven to
prove that the idea was new and not
sufficiently grounded on demonstration,
failing to realize that methods for con-
trolling rainfall are as old as history. In
India, and in many parts OF Africa. the
rainmaker is the mostimportant parsonage
in every community, though his methods
are precatorial rather than explosively
scientific. No less an authority than
Plutarch declares that rain usually falls
after battles, although it must be admitted
that in his time g%unpowder had not been
invented. He said the storms were sent
by the gods to cleanse the earth that
had been polluted with blood. Also in
some parts OF Europe, as late as 1910. it
was the custom to dispel storms by the
firing of guns But, il reliable data on
the subject have been lacking hitherto.
they will be supplied by the forthcoming
experiments in Western Kansas. and it
is likely that the time will shortly arrive
when every one will be able to regulate
showers for his own garden patch.
Seriously, however, the notion is that,
%supposing the efficacy of explosives for
producing rain once proved. committees
Of farmers might make it their business to
establish detonating plants, employing for
the purpose balloons. kites, mortar bombs
or what not. The balloons to be used in
the approaching government trials cost
about 500 apiece; but the expense en-
tailed for a score or so of these would be
of no consequence to a district for which
a single good shower might signify Sl0,-
900 or even 800, 900 OF value.
A carpenter by the name OF NJ. S. Pow
ers fell from the roof of a house in East
Des Moines, Ia, and sustained a painful
and serious sprain of the wrist, which he