Evening star., 1923-03-09

strengthened. The crossing Of those
bridges and the landing at Alexandria
were made by Union troops early in
the morning Of May 23, 1861. Earth
works were later built at q number
Of places generally overlooking the
principal wagon roads leading into
Washington from Maryland and vir
ginia.
The Secretary Of War. October IS
1852, appointed q board to examine
and report upon a plan Of the presen,
, forts and sufiiciency Of the presen,
system Of defenses Of Washington
That board consisted Of Gems. J. G
Totten, Montgomery c. Meigs. w. F.
Barry. j. G.. Barnard and q. W
CulIum.
From the few works covering
bridges, roads and few other points
was developed a connected system OF
fortification by which every promi
nsnt point at intervals Of 500 or 1,oot
yards was occupied by a field fort
avery important approach or depres
sion Of ground unseen from the forts
was swept by a battery Of feld guns
and all these positions were connected
by rife trenches, which. Gen. Barnard
| says. "were, in fact. lines Of infantry
parapet furnishing emplacement Ton
two ranks Of men and affording GOV
cred communication along the line.'
| while roads were built wherever neces
eary that troops Of all arms could be
moved rapidly from one point OF the
periphery to another and under cover
from any position that the enemy
might occupy.
We are hearing again OF artificial
rain. Perhaps rain will be forced oI
coaxed to fall, droughts will be broken
and wilted crops be saved. That II. II
there are clouds nearby. for clouds are
necessary In the new rain-rnakinl
process. With q cloud at hand It car
be forced to give up, or give down. iti
| moisture.
ChEb alu 08o 1iVh aoSN -
lombard the sky for the purpose OF
with the hope OF causing rain. II rair
| fell within @ week the bombardmen1
was a success. II 1t did not fall In time
to save the crops the bombardmen'
had not been continued long enough
or there was something wrong with
the powder. The theory was based or
the fact that many battles were &C
companied or followed by rain. Bat
ties were also preceded by rain. but Il
! was the rain that followed battles tina,
| counted. Meteorologists, measuring
the average time between rains ir
spring, summer and fall-which were
generally the seasons in which old
fashioned battles were fought-saie
that the rain would have fallen II there
had been no battle.
The new idea is to 60 up in an air
plane and attack q cloud from above
It is surely fact that clouds never
| thought until q few years ago that d
man would get at them from that posi-
| tion. It is seriously and credibly re
ported that precipitation has been
caused and clouds have been made te
| disappear in a series Of experiments
conducted at McCook Flying Field, &C
cording to announcements made by
Prof. Wilder D. Bancroft OF Cornell
| University and l.. Francis Warren
The experiments were made with the
cooperation Of the Army air service =
It Is said that the clouds were made
to disappear and precipitate theil
| moisture by the dropping Of electrical
ly charged grains Of sand upon then
from airplanes.
A good many scientific achievement:
are announced that do not achieve, and
an anxious people will watch for more
information about changing clouds
into rainstorms by sprinkling then
with electrified sand. The world move:
| and science goes marching on.