New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-05
ARTIFICIAL RAIN MARTNG

southern California has just been the scene
oI prolonged effort to promote rainfall bv
arunclaI means. Charles Hatfield who thinks
mat he Is able to perform the feat took con-
tract TO cause eighteen inches Of proclamation
between December Is and May l. During that
period, 1t is asserted, Los Angeles which is on
the coast was favored with 1886 inches, and
announcer station, further inland and situated I'D
IN the foothills, had 2649 inches
No trained meteoroIogist will believa that Mr.
Hathelds work had more than the most micro
scoplc effect, if 1t had any at ALL The idea of
coercing nature is not new. Others have tried
TO DO so before. General Dyrenforth who
acmeVed notoriety in the South and West IF
Teen years ago, believed that 1t was possible to
secure rain by bombarding the skies when the
clouds gave vain promise of precipitation
Finally his system was tried under government
auspices, to satisfy q few Congressmen who
had natural regard for the welfare of their
AGRICULTURAL constituents, but who knew little
or science. Professor William NJ. Davis Of
Harvard University, refers TO the matter in
his Elementary Meteoroogy' in the follow
ing language:
AS, AS Ior the efforts to produce rain by firing
dynamite and other explosives in Texas in 1901
the official account Of these experiments gIyIaS
every indication that only few pattering drops
were caused by the explosions and thesa univ
"hen heavy clouds were overhead The roIns
"nlch Followed the longest series of explosions
were to all appearances ordinary s,,T,r1a- 80,
ger showers whose path carried them over tha
p4aces Where the explosives were fired.
The apparatus employed by Hatfield consisted
OF tower fifty feet high, means for creating a
ufaught ana basins or eVaporators IN which he
is SAID TO have placed water and chemicals In
asmuch as he seems to have used no special
mechanism TO force the vapor upward or 70 nro.
uuce disturbance in the clouds, it is hardly
reasonable to imagine that his plan was anv
more effective than Dyrenforth's In all proba-
Dlnty IL was less so, and the rain would have
come when it did without aBy coaxine or ing
slery.
In some respects the downpour In Southern
California during the last winter was tbe most
exceptional In many years. But that fact should
not appear strange to intelligent and observant
people II there is any class Of phenomena
which IS almost continually departing from the
average OF past years it is meteorological condf-
lions. The two remarkable winters which New
York has recently experienced illustrate the
point But, wide as are the departures Of tenn
perature from the normal standard those of
precipitation are even more conspicuous In the
spring of 1903 it will be remembered there was
a period Of ffty-two consecutive days in which
the North Atlantic States and New-England
received scarcely a drop Of rain. Forest fires
in the Adirondacks were thus made possible
which, for the time Of year, were practically
without precedent Then came a deluge ex-
tending through seventeen days. These freaks
are paralleled a broader scale from time 10
time all over the world. The usual supply of
rain in Southern California is deficient but it
is variable; and during the winter Just ended
il was exceptionally heavy That is all there
is TO the matter
To produce rain it is necessary TO have
stratum of air nearly saturated with moisture.
Some means of causing it to rise TO q level
where lower temperatures prevail are essen
ual to cause condensation. An inflow from
an ocean toward a mountain range for a longer
or shorter interval OF time is likely to insure
Il liberal downpour. The most conspicuous in
stance Of that combination is found on the
coast Of India. where seasonal winds the mon
soons, are usually established late in the spring
ana continue for months. The highlands near
the tropical waters OF the Indian Ocean then
receive m almost continuous bath II CaIifor-
MA was favored with monsoon nj all il
would occur in summer, not in winter. Most