The Press., 1891-09-10

Somehow or other the people down in Midland, Tex, on the Chicago" ranch, did not know half so much about the heavy showers which followed Gen. Dyr- enfurth's assault on the sky as was known in some newspaper offices thousands of miles away. The Dallas News had a correspondent on the ground all through the experiments, and he says he had hard ly any use for an umbrella, and none at all for some hours after the experiment or within 10 miles of the scene of the ex- plosions. The rain compellers had bad luck all the time; their retorts got on fire and had to be lassooed into pond by the cowboys, and the balloons did not all explode but burned up or foated of in the air at their own sweet will. The cow boys had the most fun, firing of the pow der on the ground, and made the most noise, and there was not the slightest moisture anywhere around to interfere with their fireworks. The summary of this correspondents report is that 1.-The result of these experiments is nil. No rain had fallen at the Chicago ranch 8, 10 or 20 hours after the experiment. It has rained within 10 miles of headquarters, but where the operations were the sky was as clear and the sun was as bright as though there were no rain makers in ex- istence."
 The above is from Springfield Repub- lican editorial. Per contra, the same pa- per yesterday said:
 Car! E. Myers, the aeronaut, stopped in the city yesterday, having just returned from Texas, where he acted as chief aero naut to Jerry Rusk's sky-storming party, which had to scatter to escape the rain they brought down. He tells an inter- esting account of the experiments, which he declares were abundantly successful. although he is not prepared to deduce any theories. The party included Gen. Dyrenforth, the government agent, and Mir. Powers, author of "War and Wealth er," which set forth the theory of pro- ducing rain by concussions in the air. The work was in an alkaline desert of Texas, where rain is absolutely unknown in the hot season. Moisture from the sea Is carried by the strong winds over the hot plains, but there is no dew or other inducement to entice rainfall. The party rigged up kites, the first of series con- taining 8 lot of explosives, while others followed on the same string to carry the weight of connecting wire and lift the loaded kite to the proper height. Then
 
 ity. Rain followed in few hours afte, every experiment. The most powerful explosives sent up were balloons 10 or 1s feet in diameter, filled with hydrogen anG oxygen gas, the proportion being I to 3 o these chemicals respectively. These art th6 Ingredients of water, andl as ever, chemist knows, they can ba~1Aade inte that fluid by a spark of erectficity, al though the process is accompanied by g violent explosion. The explosions inter. rupted the current which swept the moist. ure over the place, and rain soon followed in every instance. The most moisture passed over toward morning, but one night the party rent the air till il o'clock al night, and were awakened at 8 the next morning by violent thunderstorm. The agitation was systematic, bombs being fired from the ground, torpedoes exploded from kites a little higher up, and ther oxyhydrogen balloons burst still higher up. A rainfall was followed by dews fol a few nights. Mir. Myers thinks the plan practical, for one fall of rain induces an. othel, and the bombardment need not be continuous to produce irrigation.