The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-08-27

that the bee is the most successful
machine yen invented for the purpose
l. but II Il. /. Root is a good authority
on such q subject II can be done. Il
lis a.. =, &. Of Uno Bee Culture, pag,
1913, he says: "A lady has suggested
Il. beautiful experiment to determine
the amount Of honey yielded by the
spider flower, CleOme She tied lace
over the stalk to keep away the bees
that were constantly visiting it.
"Tho honey collected in quite large
drop. / presume we could measure
1.-THE amount with many other plants
in similar way.
"The little cups on the flowers of the
Ffgwort, have seen full to the brim
/, with honey, when standing alone out
in the woods"
Now, if honey is to be found in
large drops, in some flowers; and
others are filled to the brim with the
same sweetness, surely the in
county Of man or woman could
devise some means Of collecting it,
! but Pm afraid 1.-THE game wouldn't
be worth the candle"
But Mrs. sherman has taught me q
lesson. In future when dealing with
prosaic subjects, l must eschew the
poetic; as too free use of the latter
| faculty is liable to lead one into the
error in facts, committed by the poet
QueerfellOw, when he wrote
How doth the little busy bee,
Delight to bark and bite;
| 1t gathers honey all the day,
And eats it all the night.-Ed.
RAIN-MAKIN0.
One thing that clearly distinguishes
the man from the monkey, is his in
ventivcnesS. The two animals have
much in common, but the genius OF
! the ape stops short at imitativeness.
We are told in Holy Writ that "Man
hath found out many Inventions"
Yes, great many, and still there are
a great many to find out. Perhaps
the latest invention, or more strictly
speaking, discovery, is II plan for pro-
ducing rain.
Every reader of the daily press has,
for the past ten days, been informed
as to the progress of the experiments
made on the Nelson Morris ranch,
near Midland, Tex. These expert
ments are being carried ON by army
officers, aerouauts and scientific in
vestigatOrs, with view to discover
ing plan for producing rain ut will,
from rainlcss, cloudless sky.
About ten days ago the expert
mentors got their apparatus I'M
loaded, and arranged on the
aforesaid ranch, which is stu
ated in IL portion of country
that has not had drop of rain for
many months and vegetation as well
as animal life was suffering badly
from drouth. The plan intended to
be pursued was to fill balloons with
oxygen. and hydrogen, send them
aloft as captives and explode them by
electricity.
The idea is that the conclusion
caused by the explosion will form
vortex in the air, causing PARTICLES of
| Of moisture to rush together and form
mass too heavy for the atmosphere
to support and which must descend
as rain.
The notion is neither new nor novel.
History records that many of the
worlds greatest battles have been
fought in rain, which began to fall
after the fight had begun. This fact
suggested the present experiments,
and it was intended to create a racket
similar to pitched battle between
artillery.
1t has been found that something
less elaborate is efficient. While
preparations were in progress for the
mimic fray, and balloons, kites and
gas creating appliances were being
m lrshaled in battle array, some of
the explosives were tested on a small
scale on terra firma. TO the surprise
and delight of everyone concerned the
hitherto blue and rainless sky began
to assume moist appearance and
within SIX hours steady rain began
to fall and continued to fall for several
hours, when the gauge showed pre-
cipitaton of two inches, that being
more than had fallen at the same spot
for two years. The rain is said to
have extended over 1000 square miles,
refreshing the soul of man, the wither-
ing life of beast and the wilted
vegetation of that drouth cursed coun-
try.
These partial experiments seem to
demonstrate that it is perfectly prac-
ticable to bring down rain at will.
This, on the face Of it, seems to be u
great and good thing for the
farmer and stockman, the fruit
grower and the truck garden
err. SO it is, if each can
only get his supply at a time and in a
q lanIity to suit his wants, but if every
call for rain brings a precipitation
over thousand square miles, more or
less, "the cure will be as bad as the
disease" in many cases. One stock
man will want rain for his grass and
water holes, while another with plenty |
of water and good grass, has his
hay or sorghum cut and unsecured.
The cotton farmers of q county cry
aloud for rain, while he that raises
oats or wheat is suppliant for dry
weather that he may harvest his |
crop. Rain is a blessing to him that |
needs it, but a curse to him that needs |
dry weather. The question naturally |
arises, what will be the practical bene
fit to the country of this discovery? |
Who shall have the determining OF
the time for turning on the water? 1t
may happen that what at first sight