79 



rods, {pamgreUs,) invented by M. Lapostolle 4>t' Amien&y and brought 

 to perfection by Professor Trollard of Tarbes, are the only proper 

 preventative of the damages of hail. To make the hail-rod, a rope of 

 straw is the first thing necessary ; it must be made of ripe rye or 

 wheat-straw, soaked and twisted, then plaited with three strand, and 

 then plaited with four ply, making twelve strand to the rope. This 

 cable of straw must be 25 feet long, and through the centre of it 

 there must run a strong twine of tow yarn of twelve or fifteen strands 

 to the twist ; and it must be fastened at top and bottom to a stake 

 of the same length, solidly fixed in the ground, and armed at the top 

 with a metallic point of latten, (tin,) and not of iron. The stake 

 should be a pole of firm wood, entirely cleared of the bark which 

 makes it liable to rot. The rope is fastened at each end by a wire of 

 tin or what is better, red copper ; and must be stretched tight and tied 

 to the pole at every foot and a half with the same wire. The tin 

 point at top should be li inch, thick and 8 inch, long, and be in 

 direct contact with the tow-yarn. These hail-rods should be about 

 600 feet apart, and fixed in the most elevated points, such as the 

 tops of hills, the roofs of houses, or the trunks of stout trees. Among 

 us they cost about a franc a piece, (20 cents,) and last at least fif- 

 teen years. Public experiments, on a very large scale have been 

 made with them in several districts that used to be incessantly afflict- 

 ed with hail storms, and the most unequivocal success has been the 

 result. To prove, however, how error and deception forever are at 

 hand to pervert all human undertakings, we may make the passing 

 remark, that several learned men have opposed the authority of their 

 names, well known in science, against this discovery and endeavoured 

 to explain away its utility by any and every accidental cause. But 

 the fact is, that the cantons in Italy, Switzerland and France (vide 

 Linnean Annals,) which are guarded with hail-rods, find the clouds 

 that used to break over them with desolating hail and thunderbolts, 

 now pass away oj descend in in rain. The principle on which they 

 act, is thought to be, by their attracting and detaining vapours in a 

 lower legion of the air than the one in which frost is formed. 



Of Fags. 



Fogs are less hurtful to vines that is comiBouiy thought; they 

 fertilize when they happen during tillage ; in autumn they assist the 

 i ipening of the grape ; but if they last too long, they rot tJie berry ; 

 and cold mists render the plant more susceptible to frost and dispose 



