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. Héguilus 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, Médoc — which make pretty complete pro- 
