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Show n RODS GIVE NO PROTECTION ! French Vine Growers Find The g rive No Benefit From Metal t Rods They Erected. I' The vine-growing region of the (f ' ronde, in France, has been qUte H i , tensively equipped In recent vfM J with tall metal rods, similar to H ning rods, known as paragreles" i , "electric Niagaras," and alleged toil ' ford protection from hailstorms, i , careful study of the functioning ,( these rods has recently been published by M. E. Courty of the University 0) Bordeaux. The statistics preset show that numerous hailstorms im occurred in the vicinity of nearly the rods. . Moreover, according to II Courty, there has been no obvious change In the character of Dies storms since the erection of the rods. His article points out some of fa principal reasons for the erroneom conclusions that others have drawn It favor of them; for example, the fad that, normally, only one thunderstorm In five is attended by hail; that (hi area over which hail falls is normall; very small in comparison with that covered by the thunderstorm, and hall tends to occur in scattered patches or narrow bands ; and, lastly, that a district dis-trict in which hail has fallen for two i or three years In succession often remains re-mains free from hail for years, re ; gardless of tl - nstallatioa of hall-pro- '. tecting devices. |