Show F D 1 1 TM I 1 I 1 i te 0 M FD 10 sir 4 70 0 ilk AOL U OA 4 e POA rr m af 0 ow up to date A 7 VA 1 protect their div VV V V ij 4 10 1 k 1 1 and laugh at 4 tra t 4 F 9 al I 1 i ef ghost of bank 74 4 PW ato V diprey by using T ap wage pots to drive vak killing cold durle 9 cr i f bert H moulton UN ahn 1 last two to eayrs an k other iier and a greater triumph of 0 t horticulture haa has arrived another other enemy of the ings hat that grow and bring forth fruit jit has been vanquished jack frost ost long king 0 of the fruit crop ere has a been dethroned fruit gr growers have vo literally built millions of fires under idar hini him and burned him out scientific orchard beating has made ide it poA possible sIble to raise the a i acre orchard ten to fit with th as much certainty as the the 10 city mans flat it takes some r than the last mentioned process tion a and the profits of heating all ui greater ansur it crop 1 ii now just as practicable and id vastly more for or the than nan either firor life insurance fire ire for or tho fruit grower makes profits at a much smaller expense is alast are does I 1 for or tho merchant the little outdoor oil stoves and t have been sold bythe by the ns to in i the last yea and a half have the 9 fruit grower that annual early prostration lon from faur of frost that C ing ig fear that he may go to bed at I 1 en i to find bis his whole years labor by a sudden frost the cumulative 4 three or four fruit crops in enc sue put ut fruit growers out of business dependent on charity or day labor 11 ird ard with a reasonably industrious er can be made to yield an aver eason season so far as the frost Is con frost fighting with firo Is as seed eed testing ird tion fertilizing 1 ing ng itis it Is the ee fait last and greatest t tic horticulture and has placed breast of the act tine f fernier i 4 ining cf C com commercial mr rd hor horticulture lu ur u baa has been at the mercy of the ele all his calculations all his plans arrangements conting contingent nt on the ost at would miss him and before of 1 heating tha th chances a i getting worse in the froit t belt orchard or chani the land ma raying equipment and cultivation a investment as many and when i hen two 0 0 or three crops in wiped out by frost frosts the average lately plemely bankrupt the he formation of a dem a blanket i orchard had bet bee practiced with f success in some parte parts of europe proper was first used in califor call ornal california smudge pot Is still loyed in many orchards in the pral feral growers in the grand vail vall y rl dented with inith the burning of ci 0 f the lard pall tape with tha iced ahel r entire crop ort on the heat beat t t it 04 a tho the unheated tracts the iv the adoption of the smudge pots section of the state and they cri mental stage la in several otner ring of 0 1012 there was as not a fruit without them and many sections acro ere tia un fully equipped as colola not an easy job jot it Is in irce of men industrious ra carer cam to the laet last degree ana it i is no rush out into the still cold dark 10 a better part of at the night to save neighbors or orchard clard in the eany heating a man wa was detailed to thermometers that were hung la in it f the ordary and at the farm ace away avay from the fruit trees re was not making fast perhaps to bed for a brief nap netting getting his ake him at Inte In tennie rials through the s he can go to ind in tm d with a abeling al eling IDT for the rost frost alarm th this hectric watchman vatch man has ha for in the archd d a specially roade made ih a fine platinum wire fused into the a freezing point or nt at whatever e danger point As won as the low ow this wire the circuit Is broken it t the head of the orchard boss warning any interruption of OS athe the bell to ring do 0 o that if the I 1 be put out of order it automat elf it lot Is usually forewarned even to bed and matea makes ready for the aftem con nj hi notices great fleecy y Y q F mi afar 0 A 7 cv V ik in MIJ POW wa aff Y ar 9 1 1 IV d aa re 51 clouds hurrying hur from the northwest chased by a bitter wind ind seems to have been intended tor for january rather than this april night ue ile goes to the post office for the daye days mail and in every window aeck the warning of the diligent local government weather neather forecast freezing temperature tor tonight flight 11 by seven the government thermometer Is at 37 and falling fast As 7 SO 30 0 clock be he telephones the weather cather i man and gets the reply ditter cold all over the country temperature la Is alre already MY down i own to FE thirty seven S in many of 61 the valley and will drop to twenty degrees on th western slope of colorado tonight by eight it has fallen to 32 his alana alarin begins to ring and he knows knois hint that king frost with his icy fingered angered warriors Is march inarching ingon on the camp whistles are beginning to shriek nil through the valley to arn am the gr oiLra of the all night siege finn wagons laden with coal and oil rattle past post giving evidence that the laggards who iho have been hoping to the last are beginning to get tl ti air heating machinery into action already the early ones aro tire dring heavily clouds of smoke hang low the trees and the little spots of fire beneath punctuate the blackness with ith rays of hope the orchard firemen dash for the trees a torch in one band and a gasoline can to aid in quick lighting la in the other a it few drops of go gasoline on the oil they apply the torch and the blaze Is at work nork the lighting Is done as fist as the men can walk through the orchard chard oi leal lug a trail of emoke smoke and anti fire behind them in fifteen minutes each man has his tract ot at orchard transformed into a sea of flame under a cloud of smoke then cones the first period of rest the men gather in the packing house or barn born for lunch or emoke making occasional tripe trips to the th gnome tera term to see that the fire Is doing if its work A JO 30 the thermometers outside the orchard register 28 and those in the area of heat show a coro com AT ien the frost fighters know that the battle Is half won uon for keeping up the tempo temp Is a good deal easier than raising it when it has once reached the limit the rest Is a matter of vigilance if the heater Is of the regulated type with enough fuel to bum through the night or longer a few men are left to watch and open the burners wider it a later sudden fall of temperature hows that more fire Is needed if the beaters are of thu the uniform tingle burner type they may need to be refilled when they are nearly burned out it if the froit battalion hould should come back for another charge the outside thermometers drop to 21 and anti tho those te in the orchard stand at 80 the danger mark of the orchard frost fighter fight ef the heaters beaters are opened wider or reeled if burning low and tho the mercury shoots up to 33 the eight degrees of frost has been driven away and it the oil supply ie Is plentiful and the labor unflagging the mar way now consider the battle won when toe the sun ua has shed his rays ner mer the tree trees long anoush to make the outside temperature more nearly that of the orchard kard the beaters are but shut ot ott by merely putting on the bivers heating fleeting in the of 1911 1011 was much ealer lerz thai than that of the year before and proved more ca 4 e elusively than ever the effectiveness of the uta the crop in the colorado fruit area for 1011 1911 averaged about 14 5 per amt act the unheated orchards yielded fram 10 to 75 per cent at of a crop while the ilela feld of ho tho protected orchards was i as from 0 91 to per cult so limy that thinning was ins necessary in many of them individual te testimony to the cin clency ot of borshard heating in every fruit growing state could be piled plied indefinitely fruit crops valued at to 10 nn an acre were vere frequently sned saed nt a cost of seven to ten dollars nn on acre one colorado grower for or instance with 60 heaters to the acre raised the temperature of his 40 nere orchard from 18 to 28 degrees and produced 41 car carloads loada of one of the most remarkable stories of licater sue coma comes conies from aurl A acre orchard 0 located o in a valley had buffered suffered severely from froat every year and had not produced a full crop for 14 years against the adice of all alse acres two brothers from kansas city bought it and equipped it with heaters of the controlled or graduated type with 85 or 40 pota pots to the acre the firing 1 was done for four night nights at the time tue apples were nere in bloom they harvested a crop of bantie ban tie valued nt at 4 1 aw and it wat the only crop la in that fruit growing teri atory the net profit on each ench acre approximated the crt cost of installing an oil all heating beating plant Is higher than for a coal or wood outfit but the results in 11 giue we saved and gained havi rondo it the roost most popular fuel oil can be obtained in quantity at prices ranging from four to seven cents a gallon and it makes a strong and find coolly controlled hiat one man can con care for from three to five fire neres of orchard for four or five hours and this la Is about as long as it will bo ba neca feces sary to burn bum under ordinary frost conditions the prices of the oil beaters flora from twelve cents for a simple lard pall type to 45 cents for one of the controlled fire area type holding there gallons and burning at full capacity for ten or twelve hour hours or even longer if regulated for ft a smaller blaze |