Newport daily independent., 1905-11-18
CANNON STOPS HAIE.
SATISFACTORY RESULTS OF FIX
 TREATMENTS IN FRANCE.
Damage from Storms Absolutely Checked in Localities Where Firing Has Been
 Done,

The cannon defense against hail forms the subject of a report to ths state department by United States Consul Covert at Lyon, France. The Hail Cannon society of Limas has prepared report on the use of the cannon during the past year. The re- port deals with the experience of B cannon-fring societies, which used 462 cannon in a number of storms. It ap- pears that during the IS years prior to the use of cannon the losses from hail amounted to about S3,0SS;0 900, and that during the Ave years in which cannon have been in use in the same territory the losses were but S159, 412. During the year 1904 the same com munes sustained no losses whatever, fact attributed entirely to use of cannon The writer of the report says:
 "We base our confidence in the efficacy of the firing on the fact that the thunder and. lightning ceased, the wind abated and the clouds disap- psared under the firing of the cannon, and 8 mild fall of rain and soft snow succeeded. These facts are undenia- ble."
 The report reviews tho results of
 he firing in 28 storms during the months of April, May, June. July and Septemb Der. The results are generally the sams-cessation of the thunder and lightning, dispersion of the clouds and . slight fall of rain and snow. Where no cannon were used the hail fell and caused serious damages. The commuRes not defended by cannon suffered enormously" In speaking of one storm the report says:
 'This storm was literally arrested at the east on the boundaries of the firing In the northwest. and little l distance from the cannon a hurricane swept over the country with violence, everywhere causing great damage" I The report contains several pages on the storm of July 2z, 1904, which caused great damage in some parts of the country not protected by the can non. This hurricane caused incalcu- liable damage in 29 communes. Two communes, Lozanne and Belmont. were entirely desolated, "but they had but a few cannon, one six and the other eight They are separated by a great distance from the country that is provided with cannon" The mayor of Lozanne, who is tho president ot the society for defense against the hail, wrote that his netghbors found themselves upon the edge of the com munes where there was no defense against the hail and were unable to resist storm of such violence. He says: During the first few minutes of the storm the firing was followed 1 by the falling of few soft hailstones. 1 and everybody noticed, even in that general storm, that the thunder and lightning diminished as the firing con- l tinued. and that the diminutiOn was caused by the cannon" In several places all traces of vegetation disap- peared and the cOnsternation was great in the wine-growing communes. The mayor of Belmont reports that the firing was powerless in his com mune on account of the small number l of cannon.
 1 The report mentions several locala- ties where the firing was very active, 1 and it says the hail was checked when the firing commenced. In the country l known as Arbresle there were, from all accounts. but few cannon in use, l and the destruction from hail was widespread and disastrous.
 | In the great Beaujolais wine dis. trict, where the country fairly bris- tied with cannon" the farmers say that they found it necessary to lire l only on the boundaries of the large 1 vineyards, and that, as rule, but very little firing occurred in the cen ter of the field. The consul says he has met a dozen or more large wine growers who assert emphatically. that 1 the efficacy of the cannon to destroy the hail in the clouds and to turn It
 into mild rain.
 "The use of cannon against the
 hail" says Consul Covert, will un- doubtedly continue in France until
 some authority appointed by the gov
 erument shall assume control of the experiments and demonstrate it's i'm
 potency, if such a thing be possible.
 The farmers of Arbresle. where but
 few cannon were used, are preparing to wage a more effective campaign
 against the hail next year. Their
 president and the other officers of their
 societies are of the opinion that the
 sole cause of their losses this year
 was the failure to use sufficient
 number of cannon"
 .e