French Smudges. 117 



"The system of Lagrolet is said to give a very 

 dense, heavy and persistent cloud. The composition 

 is delivered in barrels, the contents of which are in 

 a solid mass, which must be broken up into pieces. 

 Three of these are leaned together like a tripod, in 

 little hollows in the ground, about fifteen yards apart. 



"In the Audibert system, the smudges are made 

 by a mixture of tar, creosote and sawdust easily 

 made and easy to use. There is a system of Tanzin, 

 and others, the details of which it is not necessary 

 now to discuss. 



"Lestout advertises that he is able to furnish a 

 system of devices by which warning is given of 

 approaching frost, or by which the smudges can be 

 fired automatically, when the mercury descends to 

 a certain degree. Heguilus has also invented a 

 system of signals and lighters. It is not necessary 

 to dwell upon either of these, further than to re- 

 mark in passing that a system of automatic lighting 

 will not fulfill its full purpose unless it is so ar- 

 ranged that it will light the fires on the side of the 

 field from which the air is moving. Otherwise one 

 may have the satisfaction of protecting his neigh- 

 bor's vineyard and not his own. To secure the 

 maximum protection, ^the proprietors should join in 

 a common effort to protect a whole district at once, 

 as Lestout recommends; and this, it appears from 

 his pamphlet, is being done in France. He gives 

 the statutes of a syndicate formed in 1890 by one 

 hundred and fifteen proprietors in the district of 

 Moulis, Medoc which make pretty complete pro- 



