213 Process to avert Showers of Hail, Se. 
For this purpose he made use of boxes of gunpowder, which 
he caused to be fired off from the heights on the approach 
of a storm; and his attempts had the happiest effects: he 
continued until the period of his death, which happened at 
the commencement of the revolution, to preserve his lands 
from the ravages of the hail-storms, while the neighbouring 
villages frequently experienced their baneful effects. He 
consumed annually about 200 or 300 pounds of mining 
powder, which was furnished to him from the magazine at 
Macon. 
The inhabitants of the communes where the marquis de 
Chevriers’s estates were situated, convinced, by the experi- 
ence of a great number of years, of the excellence of this 
practice, continued to employ it. Their example was-imi- 
tated by the surrounding communes ; and the practice gain- 
ing ground, it is at this moment in use in the communes of 
Vaurenard, Iger, Azé, Romanéche, Julnat, Le Torrins, 
Touilly, Fleury, Saint Sorlin, Le Viviers, Les Boutteaux, 
and many others. The largeness of the powder-boxes, their 
charge, and the number of times they fire them off, vary 
according to circumstances and the position of the places. 
In the commune of Fleury they make use of a mortar which 
carries a pound of powder at a time; and it is generally 
upon the heights, and before the clouds have had time to 
accumulate, that they make the explosions, which they con- 
tinue until the stormy clouds are entirely dissipated. Ac- 
cording to the account given me by the keeper of the maga- 
azine at Macon, the annual consumption of mining powder 
for this purpose is from 400 to 500 kilogrammes. 
The extension of this process for these some years past, 
and the suecess with which it has been constantly accom- 
panied, makes it desirable that it should be more generally 
‘known wherever hail-storms extend their ravages. It be- 
longs to the learned societies to propagate, by premiums and 
experiments, a practice by no means ) costly as to produce 
inconvenience, and which from its simplicity of execution 
1s open to every country inhabitant, 
XXXVI. On 
