178 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
Hail and thunder were abundant, but no hail fell 
among them. On 11th November, 1825, a vine grower, 
who had only four 1'aragreles about 22 feet high, re¬ 
ceived no injury from a storm which seriously injured 
his neighbours. 
The Baron Crud, writing to Professor Ch -vunnes, 
under date 19th July, 1824. remarks, that in June a 
storm cloud appeared one evening, stretching itself over 
the Paragreles, and, parting, with its lightning, tunn¬ 
ing an undulated but generally horizontal line; it 
finally Bose into the upper air, and none of it extended 
to the earthy the lower regions appearing to be deprived 
of their electricity. On another day, ho remarks, a 
hail storm fell in the district adjoining that of the Pa- 
ragrtles* a sprinkling of hail fell at the commencement 
of that district, but none whatever beyond that point. 
The country people, who had no doctrine to support, but 
merely related what they saw, stated also that on two 
other distinct occasions, the storm clouds that approached 
the Paraj/rdtfi parted , and passed by on each side. 
There is further evidence. Signor Perotti states that 
he planted 10,000 perches of land with paragreles. 
Fourteen storms* that ravaged the lamia of his neigh¬ 
bours, passed over his without doing any damage. On 
lJrai June, ] ,=24, a violent and destructive hail storm 
came from BcntiyogJio, near Bologna: but when it 
reached a district supplied with fifty paragreles, the 
storm cloud was modified, a trijUmj quantity of (ail 
fell about the opt 1 -* 1, paragreles* but between the second 
and third Hue it was of the consist met/ of snow. 
A gentleman who travelled through Switzerland in 
1825, thus reports :—He was every where assured that 
perfect success had attended the paragreles—neither 
vineyard nur cornfield had suffered: but on the con¬ 
trary, a few miles from Neufchatel, where the supersti¬ 
tious feelings of the inhabitants would not allow' 
paragreles to lie erected, the. vineyards were totally 
destroyed* whilst those supplied with them were unin¬ 
jured. “ We must therefore reasonably infer,” he adds, 
" that these extraordinary exemptions from destruction 
are. the purchase of this practical application of scien¬ 
tific truth- The shielded districts were in the very 
tract of the storm cloud; nay, it passed over them 
harmlessly, or, if it halted in its progress, or hovered 
over them, its depositions were of so soft and mild a 
character, that they were powerless.” The people of 
tlie canton of Berne actually formed an experimental 
society for nine years, not only for grapes, but for fruit [ 
and grain of every kind; and M. de Fellenbourg d* 
Hofwvl, so well known throughout Europe for bis at¬ 
tention to every kind of advancement of the interests 
of mankind, and numerous other celebrated agricul¬ 
turists, were amongst the foremost to promote this 
unde i taking. 
The instrument consists of a straight rod or pole of 
wood (generally in Switzerland of a pine stem), about 
twice the height of a common hop-pole, from 40 to 50 
feet in length, fixed firm in the ground, and having a 
pointed summit. A wire of iron or brass of some 
thickness runs straight up the wood, from bottom to 
top, extending a few inches above the pole. In some 
parts of the European continent they stand about 100 
feet apart; in others as many yards. The writer of 
this has seen many thousands of them, especially in the 
districts of La. Cote, aud along the Jura, as also on the 
Italian side of the Alps, aud in France. The Para- 
gveles stand thus in rows on the edges of the vineyards, 
and cannot fail to attract notice. The expense of such 
apparatus cannot be much—a few shillings each. 
The manner in which the instrument acts is as a con¬ 
ductor. The elec ric fluid, which would generate hail* 
is thus made to produce snow or rain. Strange as tins 
may seem, it is no less true than strange. 
The paragrele is a conductor, .and numerous para¬ 
greles, simultaneously conducting, destroy or weaken 
the electricity. 
There is strong probability to induce a firm belief’, 
that crops of all kinds would be saved from the effects 
of blighting, occasioned by hot winds; as it is a well 
ascertained fact, that these Australian siroccos are 
highly charged with electricity. Experiments seem 
worthy of colonial trials, more particularly on the 
Baulkham hills, where men so freqmntly read in the 
newspapers of disasters from thunder and hail storms. 
Nay, iecently, a paragraph went the usual journalist 
rounds, that a gentleman in Iowa, U. S. t had proposed 
to keep tho town free of thunder storms, for a stated 
sum a year. This proposition may not be so impossible 
as the first look would make believe. 
IV e now teach the lightning to convey messages al¬ 
most instantaneously, and to write ; why may we not 
keep it in regular atmospheric subjection ? The feat 
would not be more wonderful now, than the miracle of 
Franklin at the time when he brought down the electric 
power from the high heavens, and astonished the world. 
Sydney or Melbourne might be kept as completely in ¬ 
sulated as a glass table having sealing wax legs. What 
has been done in France, Italy, or Switzerland, may be 
also carried out here—and with fully more necessity, 
in a hotter latitude, where thunder stonns are propor¬ 
tionately more severe; for tbe damage in a closely 
cultivated country will be nearly, if not always, in a 
similar ratio. 
The precipitation of dews and rains might thus be 
promoted ; and the idea of quickening vegetation bv 
means of electricity, would, at the same time, be fully 
exemplified or refuted. 
Whether Williams' proposition of erecting large 
electrical machines, to be driven by wind or water, for 
modification of the British climate, will ever be prac¬ 
tically applied with success in any parts of the world, 
time will only try. He aimed at’diminution of mdis- 
ture: Australia in general requires an increase- How¬ 
ever, without theorising, it is certain, that grain sprouts 
more speedily in water, positively electrified, than in . 
water negatively. Electroscopes are of veiv little use. 
I have preferred two pith balls; and now have neither. 
We read of Lane’s Henley’s, Harris’electrometers, 
for estimating approximately the quantity of electricity 
in any electrified body. All attempts to obtain Daniels’ 
have utterly failed me. Better instruments are re¬ 
quired. Observations on the electrical states of the 
atmosphere have been too much neglected. They are 
of far more importance in this Colony than Barometric 
alterations, as the range of that instrument (the baro¬ 
meter) varies so little in these Australia. Well con- 
| ducted observations on atmospheric electricity at the 
twelve meteorological stations of N ew South Wales 
about to be instituted, would form a new chapter in our 
climatic reports, of quite a novel character, and of deep 
interest. As the changes, in both form aud constitution 
of earthy matters, depend on their electric states, it is 
plainly manifest that electricity must he constantly 
active, sometimes silently; and anon, visible and audi¬ 
ble in the forked lightnings and loud thunders: 
It is my firm conviction, that growing plants give off 
electricity by their spikes or points—the loots, pith, 
and sap being negative; and the leaves, flowers, fruit, 
fresh branches, always -L. Hence their vitality, and 
constant electro-motion. 
Unable to devolope or discuss these very important 
subjects, I will feel highly satisfied if the "attention of 
more scientific men are directed to their further inves¬ 
tigation, for none will denv their importance. 
R. MESTON. 
Rocky River, Deer. 1857. 
AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS AND 
IMPROVEMENT SOCIETIES* 
Societies for promoting terras cultural purposes, 
until recently; formed only affairs of shreds and 
patches in Australia. They were never constructed 
on sufficiently broad basis, so the superstructures 
soon tottered and fell. They wanted the master 
architect, and a primary nucleus, like the sun in 
our planetary system, round which all the rest 
