New-York tribune., 1901-11-04
USELESS TO TRY TO PREVENT HAIL.
PROFESSOR MOORE SHOWS THAT AssER-
TIONS OF FOREIGN HAIL SHOOTERS
ARE BASELESS.

washineton Nov 3-Professor Willis l.. Moore
acting Secretary Of Agriculture. has issued an o.
fetal statement concerning the matter OF the dI
tempted prevention OF hailstorms by the use Oh
explosives from specially designed cannon BFlel
reference is made to the renewed interest IN the
subject lately in France and Italy, and TO the
apparatus now in i conducting the eApefl-
ments. The professor then says in part:
There is marked difference Of opinion as to the
effectiveness OF cannon firing. with the manu-
facturers and many grape growers on the one slae
ana the scientists of America ana Europe on @ tle
other The former maintain that halIs'uiiiIs ,iI +b
De prevented in the manner described While me
latter claim that the force exerted by the expioee
sives is infinitesimal compared TO the forces o
nature that eXerted in hail fornatlo1 any /.
the cannonading process Themselves nave hot
produced convincing results. The numper, OF
only small PERCENTAGE of the actual number OF
thunderstorms. In most parts OF tne jtboTt JthoTt
fall OF hail. while in seasons % abnormal thunder
storm frequency the number of haiistorms Is
While in the grape growing regions of France and
Italy there may be greater hastorm frequency: it
is still that the number of hailstorms are rev
as compared TO the number of thlndersto1s
they shoot at thunderstorm cloud that does
not produce hail. although the chances are sreatIy
in favor of there being no han IN me cIorGc f a.
they excuse the occurrence OF halI IN slllt oI d
large enough or the powder charge sufficiently
heavy. and declare that the hailstorm was far IeSs
severe than il would have been otherwise. How IS
to prove disprove such statements! ,,o
that haiistorms cannot be prevented by the use of
cannon and explosives of greater power than
have used that il is possible for men 70 ts
and they base their belief upon such knoWledge OF
the forces of nature science has revealed Sek-
era thousand shooting stations nave peeh tS tSthp-
lished i'm Tta1y and France in the last Two years.
h reports received from them give no deflllte dSt-
doubt that the caflflolldlilt -
believed to be efectual by farmers VINO 90 the
work. .y,,o- ,-ea-,
oy-er n community only TO be regretted IN SUD
saoUenr wears, when calmer judgment mas come 70
Ne have only to remember the experience
Of our own country only a few years ago Win the
rainmakers. and how firm was TIE BELIEF or thou.
sands Of people in the subarid and arid regions or
the West that the OF powerful explosives
would produce rainfall Thousands OF dollars were
expended IN these experiments before the 2bSurdltY
Of he clam was demonstrated. II IS fact worthy
Of remark that the hail shoot now using
practically methods to iSSipate the clouds
that the ranmakers used to produce them. Time
and experiment probably viii demonstrate that nail
prevention by such is impractlcable as
sight Of an approaching cloud whether or not II IS
accompanied by hail. Therefore il the cannon be
used svery thunderstorm would have TO be bonn
barded although statistics have demonstrated that
tains hail. In other words there would be a ire
mendous waste OF time. money and energy IN ur-
necessary bombardments.
After examining all that has been published in
the last years the subject of hail prevention
have repeat the opinion heretofore expressed
that have here do with popular deluslon.
and that efforts should be made to prevent its
spread in this country. The great processes going
scale for any any nation TO attempt to con-
troll them. The energy expended by nature in the
production of a hailSTOrm. a tornado or n ram
storm probably exceeds the combined energy Of all
is useless for to attempt 10 combat nature on
this scale.