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Show WO BZjT J m dJk ny-l n uii,,1x s5i a. vvJXtVW k BJBB AIN'T NATURE GRAND! She smiles and beams and beams and smiles, Uh sun and gentle showers, With all her springtime wooing wiles, On grass and trees and flowers; And then she gels her live wires crossed dnd goes and flirts with old Jack Frott, Although she knows the brute Thinks it smart and cute To nip bud, blossom, fruill And, then she smiles the same old smile And works again the same old guile On all the land To beat the band. Ain't Nature grandl -J. V. S. A-. r S wO cold snaps thls-fiprlng caused wide-Kf wide-Kf spread damage to tho fruit crops. r - Tho bouthem limit of the one nt the vy J end of March was well Into Oklahoma, "53 3 Kentucky nnd Murjhuid. Tho one In VJLXV April did not extend so far south, but jtf overlapped tho north line of tho first J 3$ 1 frost. The northern limit of damage r S 3 I" !th runs up to the Orent Lakes and In Mlnnesotn and New York nnd Vermont, clear to the Cnnadiun boundary. Iteports are that the damage Is heavy In places. For example, two experts of the crop reporting fccrvlce In Missouri estimated the damage to fruits and early vegetables nt $10,000,000. The apple crop In Vashlngtoii,UenJon, and other oth-er counties In tho not (Invest Arioimns fruit region will he practically a total loss. Tenches and cherries cher-ries weie killed and strawberries damaged almost 50 per cent. Dispatches sold about 03 per cent of the fruit crop In Oklahoma Is ruined. It Is estimated that Nebraska's crop of eatly cherries, apples, pears, and plums Is n total loss. The early varieties of fruit In sohio ea&teru states also sunered heavily. Karly pnchos, cherries, and plums prohnbly huo been killed In southeastern rennsylvnnla. , The cold weather seriously damaged tho fruit crop In the southern part of Ohlc, where the fruit was far adwinccd. Thousands of Maryland fruit trees were In full loom when hit by this frost. Growers In Wash- tngton county, tho center of the, western Maryland pench belt, report the peach crop destrojed. , Tho fruit crop In Kentucky apparently wns killed. Therefore the following nrtlclc. prepared by tho United States Department of Agriculture, ls worth the attention of oury fruit grower: The weather tnireau of the United States Department De-partment of Agriculture has heei. ntilo to discover the weapon used by that old eteniy of mankind, Jack Frost, and In a recent published report It tells the farmer and fruit grower Jut what Jnck's Invisible weapon Is. and how, under ordinary eon-dltloiiH, eon-dltloiiH, the spiite's own artillery may bo used against him. Frost, of course, occurs whenever the mercury drops to !I2 degrees F. or low" If much moisture mois-ture Is present In the atmosphere this drop In temperature Is manifested by the white crystals of frozen moisture upon leaf or grass stem, and there Is whnt Is known ns a "white frost." If the toniperntuie tit ops to the required degrco and does not reach the point when water from tho nlr Is condensed, there will be few crystals deposited, de-posited, and the result Is n "black frost." A "freeze" Is the term applied (o a condition of cold more permanent than n frost, nnd such n condition may occur when there are high winds. True "frosts" occur only when tho surface air Is relatively rel-atively calm. Temperature, like water, sceto a level. During tho day the earth receives moro heat tlitiu It can throw off, but nt night this supply of heat Is stopped. During tho doy the heat thrown off by the earth warms the thin blanket of nlr next tho ground. This blanket, ns It warms, loses Its density and nscends. Cooling as It rises, present ly it encounters nlr of Its own temperature, and there It stops. Meanwhllo Its pluco has been tnken by other colder air, which Is In turn warmed by contact with tho ground. This exchange goes on until, at sundown, all tho air of a wldo layer above the earth has been warmed, and the highest high-est temperature Is felt nearest tho earth. Earth Squanders Its Heat. Now, with the sunset, old earth begins to suffer from a bit of nerlal trickery. All day long ho has been patiently passing out heat to ono cold nlr layer after another; night comes, and with It the loss of his sourco of supply, but do these warm upper layers pass back any of tho heat they begged during tho day? Tltey do not unless they aro made to. The layer close to tho earth does, and thus they leave their coldest blanket against tho shivering earth while they sail uhout 40 or f0 feet nbovo their Into benefactor, fcercne nnd warm and selfish, little caring that the spendthrift spend-thrift earth Is freozlng his toes below. As tho enrth becomes colder the nlr lilnnkot next his brown old skin heroines colder, too, and heavier as It becomes coldor. so that tho colder It grows tho moro tightly It tits, and ho has little ! chance of throwing off his chilly coverlet to seize wnrnier zone. The enrth, too prodlgul of his VJ.kJLtfBjEBJBisflBflBHtf jhv.t u!h.jl . W XWmwU, EiBI MSHBmFmM (171 HiWff sii.iBF" ii iBtiP 'ii'lBF sfBJffUBKBBJP V day-time bent, ivgrets his generosity of tho sunshiny sun-shiny hours. On rainy days, when tho cloud stratn has cut oft tho sun's heat, the earth ls not much warmed during the day. If, during tho nlnht, tho clouds blow nwny, the enrth Is opt to go bankrupt. Thnt Is why, when (he season Is pnsslng from spring to sumiuei, or from summer to fall, n threo days' rain Is so often followed by n frost. Tho first clear night presents beat bills to the earth which ho Is unable to pay, and Juck Frost, nnturo's sheriff, places his crisp seal upon the Improvident old fellow. The farmer looks out across his blasted fields In tho morning nnd sighs, "A killing kill-ing frost last night." And this Is because tho old earth, nlready gray with nge and experience, hasn't yot learned how to "save up for u raloy day!" The most common method for frost prevention Is to establish a sort of savings hank for tho old fellow earth. Rest assured that he'll spend his reservo If he can I Glass makes tho best heat Havings Hav-ings bnnk. It bus tho curious property of allowing allow-ing tho heat from the, sun to puss through to tho earth, but It will not allow tho radiated heat from the earth to go back to the "eager air." Glass Is expensive, however, nnd can ho used only for tho protection of comparatively small areas of ground. Wood Is nlso n good watchman to set above tho ancient prolllgnto. Though It will not allow heat to pnss from tho sun us glnss does, neither will It allow It to pass outward from tho earth. In sections of the South a lath network Is used to cover crops during the danger periods. Tho wood-en wood-en network holds down a largo amount of heat, and when a frost occurs It helps tho frozen plants by shading them from the direct rays of the morning sun and nllows them to thaw gradually. Quick thnvvhig of the frozen water particles In plant or fiult Is fatal, as It causes the cellular tissues to break down ; If the thawing procesH Is very gradual the plant may reabsorb tho fluid and the dumage done may be Htirprlslngly slight. Various Methods Used. Taper Is of less value In conserving bent thnn Is wood, though It Is moro elllclent thnn cloth. Cloth allows that cold mendicant, tho nlr, to pone, trnto to tho earth and steal tho last degree of beat from him. So u cloth covering must be quite heavy If the frost Is a hard one. Iron or metal pots ure not at all good as bankers for the earth they allow the heat to pass hack Into the nlr almost al-most us readily as the earth Itself. There Is another method that Is employed to savo tho spendthrift from the sheriff. Tho presence pres-ence of moisture In the air makes the radiation of beat illfllcult and helps greatly to conserve (ho heat which the earth already holds. Also, If tho temperature drops to freezing each drop of water gives up a hit of latent heat before congealing, and all these tiny contributions help to keep the surface air wanner. A breeze from ocean, lake, or river will usually bring this wet blanket, and It can sometimes bo supplied In an artificial inannet by letting water Into Irrigation ditches. Itesultsaiot so good mny bo had by building damp smudge fires In tho or chard. Cranberry growere often suvo their crops by flooding the area with watei. In the event of extreme cold It ls often posslblo to submerge entire en-tire ureas growing this crop. This gives nbsoluto protection. Less prodlgul than earth, wnter keeps Its reserve heat for long porMs of time, Force Air to Be Honest. Tho third method of keeping tho enrth solvent Is by adding heat to the nlr layers near the surface. sur-face. This Is done by means of mnny small fires of oil, coal, wood, or orchard refuse, and Is n method well known In sections where fruit growing grow-ing Is a specialty. It Is sometimes scorned us an attempt to "warm up nil outdrors," hut that Is not what hoppens, exactly. Wo know (hat at night, the air above the earth Is wnrnier than tho nlr directly against It, Therefore, Jf the low-or low-or and colder strata could ho lifted and mixed with tho upper nlr, a higher and moro equable temperature would result. rr Uy l"n0"nl Humorous flTJ ISMAlC mnU flrc8 th,s ,my be H ftlM' A imc Tll 1,ot Knscs .VsH EK. $51 -tmM rushing upwnrd from iflYJ t llL 2jP eucn "l"70 ,,'t l,ml ,089 flTsi LLfeiJl JffllT loycrB uut'l n warmer flYJ lJ liA r mlxturo ls applied to the H WJ'' $3&?P& earth. Tho hot gases serve JBH f H-TV! t0 nsslst In warming the ABJ s' aVVrvf chilled atmosphere, but the flH LWhW) elT(,ct of dlrcct rod'1'0" .ffsPJ fpiJ&nny amounts to very little. AVI fiMf y This difference In heat M$l quality Is very well lllu- flB tratod In our homes. Dl. rcct radiation ls tho sort Bfl of heat given off by tho wood-burning parlor stove BB when Its hot sides aro glowing on a cold winter BB night, whllo tho hot gases given off by combustion BBJ pnss up tho chimney. BB This method of preventing frost Is very efficient, flH nnd each year It saves much money for American BB fruit growers. Just how It ls best applied, how BjV many fires aro needed to tho acre, nnd tho form flVj and stylo of burner giving the best results, aro BBn well discussed In tho Weather Hurenu Dulletln No. iBBU lOiK). ! Many n fruit grower hns nursed an expenBlvo sPsPJ orchard to the point of bearing only to see wJH his wcll-desorved reward vanish In n single night. Hut moro and moro wo nro discovering that, It SflB wo cannot defy certain natural laws, wo may still IflV nullify their results through a butter understand- lug of their principles. This Is -wlint tho up-to- date fruit grower does. Ho cannot ellmlnuto Bfl frost, but bo can use Its principles to protect htm- BB self from Its effects. -i IBB Tips to Orchardlsts. aBJ Tho wenther bureau bulletin treats tho frost- iBl prevention methods very thoroughly, nnd tho BM pamphlet should bo particularly useful to anyone TsVJ who owns nn orchard or who contemplates plant- imM lug ono. First of nil, tho exports point out, tho iB orchard owner should determine whether his crop IBB will pay the expense of protection; If It will not, f then he had better movo to u less erratic climate. jBB Certain frultH will stand a lower temperature than jH others, and tho experts furnish n tempemturo H chart to show this. Hero It Is; SB Temperatures Endured by Blossoms for 30 Mln- H utos or Less. BB Closed After SB hiitBhovv. Full Fruit Has ITult- lug Color Uloom Set Bfl F. K. Bfl Aiilon 26 28 23 flB I'cuchtM , , Jt 28 23 flB Chorrlcs 3S 24 3D flflj I 'earn .-. JS SO flB 1'luins S 18 JO flB Apricots 35 27 M (Bfl I'ruiioH , ,,,, SS 29 SO Isfll Almonds SO 27 0 III drapes , 30 31 JflJ Charts which show In a graphic way how the jfl tires should be distributed through an orchard uro H reproduced. Thoso have been prepared from f'BJ studies mndo In successful orchards, and nro tho B result of tho best methods In use In this country. 'jfl Overhead costs are dlscus.sed, as well ns the euro '-! of the frost-flghtlng apparatus. Records Ghould Be Kept hRI Once nn owner decides to fight Jack Frost for JPm&B his profit It Is most Important that ho keep rec- ' ords of the battles, so that ho may refer to them when tho next skirmish threatens. Tho knowl- ,BJ edgo that i tcn.mllo wind will prevent frost when ijBj tho thermometer ls at 40 degrees P. at sunset JM may apply to only ono fruit fnrm, but It will savo M that owner tho expense of lighting ids tires If ho does know It. Records, If ho keeps them, will tell . H him this. ,! Several bits of liomc-mada npparutus will save ill tho frost fighter good sound dollars, and tho mS pamphlet tells how these may bo made nnd used. Ill Tho effect of soot from tho oil flames upon tho IBj fruit blossoms Is made clear to the reader In an jflj account of exporlmculs conducted to determine this problem. As a matler of fact, soot does not til hinder tho pollination of fruit blossoms, nor does U It Injuro them In any way. 'HJ From first to Inst, tho United States Depart- V ment of Agricutturo Farmers' Ilulletln No. 1090 Is filled with valuable Information for anyone who ,M Is nttemptlng to grow fruits or vegetables In jM trost-vlslted areas. It ls an Invaluable mnuuul for any porson who mny bo appointed ns tern- jflj pornry receiver to stand between n shivering, bankrupt world nnd Its ungrateful n editors. As ,wj stated before, this lnundano sphere. In splto of a 'jil hundred thousand yenrs of cold toes and chilly 'H nights, has never learned to Bnve In the suushlna of plenty ugnlnst tho night of want And It never Bj will. II B |