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Show 'FROST DESTROYS .. TENDER FRUITS Freeze of Thursday Night More Destructive Than That of the NightJ Before Sweet Cherries and Apricots Taken by the Frost-Peach Frost-Peach Crop May Yet Be Saved. I . 4'-' MUCH DAMAGE IN STATE - t Salt Lake. April 1 . Reports from different sections of Utah f indicate that considerable dam- 4- age was done to tho fruit crop 4 by the low temperature of Wed- - n'esday and Thursday nljhts. Jr It is estimated that nearly all - 4 earlv cherries were killed and 4 4 that' the apricot crop was three- 4- 4 fourths destroyed, while the 4- 4- peach crop will be reduced one- 4 4 third 4444444444 Jack Frost last night renowed thc attack on the orchaid buds of the country, succeeding, practically. In destroying de-stroying sweet cherries and. apricots. It is said that evefc In' the protected district of Xorth Ogden the prospective prospec-tive cherry and apricot crop was destroyed. de-stroyed. It Is also said that all buds In full bloom, of whatever nature, have been killed, even In districts where artificial heat was used. Of the fruit blossoms that are out, two-thirds are gone, but the buds remaining, partly developed, two-thiids two-thiids will be saved, which should leave n fairly good crop of peaches. From 1:30 to 5 a. m., the thermometers thermom-eters on Eighteenth street registered down to 21 degrees. The fruit growers are still optimistic optimis-tic thoush regarding the peach crop, contending that there are enough of the closed buds remaining to Insure a good crop. Buds or late fruit trees arc nninjured and It Is claimed that there will be a large crop of apples, i ears and other late fruits Mo of the buds on the peach trees have not opened sufficiently to fully expose them to the frost and It Is these buds rrom which" the orchardlst gets his hope of a good crop. The temperature last night was about the same as the night before, it being a little lower in somo districts. At Pleasant View and Rlverdalo the mercury reached as low as 20 degrees above zero, and Immediately north of tho Hot Springs it registered 22 degrees. de-grees. The artificial heat applied to about one-half the orchards of "Weber county maintained a temperature of nearly 27 degrees above zero, which, It Is thought, was high enough to save the buds that are not in full blonm Tho concensuspf opinion Among or-chardists or-chardists Is that there will be a heavy loss In all orchards In which artificial heat was not applied, except, perhaps, In districts that are protected" by local breezes. The loss to Weber county, occasioned occasion-ed by the freezing of the past two nights, can hardly be estimated at this time, but it is large, say the fruit men. Both Manager C. M Clay of the Ogden Og-den Fruit Growers' association and Manager Hickenlooper of the Pioneer Fruit company state that at least fifty per cent of the orchards of the county were not protected by artificial heat the last two nights. Tho temperature was lower in the northern part of Box Elder county and in the Bear River section than in Weber We-ber county and that the loss to the cherry, apricot and peach crops In those sections will be correspondingly greater Information from Salt Lake at noon Avas to tho effect that the losses all through the country south of that city were Increased by last night's frost and that, notwithstanding the strenuous strenu-ous efforts put forth in the use of orchard or-chard smudge pots, cherries and apricots apri-cots were destroyed and the chromes for the peach crop greatly diminished. The weather forecast indicates there will be a heavy frost again tonight and the orchardists in all sections of the country are preparing to again battle with the enemy. Smudge pot oil Is again short in Ogden. the last barrel of It having been ordered this morning. It is expected that a supply will be shipped from Salt Lake before night, otherwise the fruit growers will be compelled to use straw and other inflammable material for their fires. Quarter Loss At Brigham. Brigham City. April 13 The frost last night was the severest recorded here for many years at this season of the year. The thermometer registered as low as 20 In some places and 25 In others. Considerable of the fruit crop was frozen. Cherries in many sections sec-tions are almost a total loss, whilo apricots ap-ricots suffered some also. The peaches, peach-es, however, withstood the frost in many sections and the loss to this fruit is not considered very heavy. From all indications there will still be a heavy crop of peaches. The frost seemed to strike in spots. West of town there were whole orchards or-chards that had hardly felt the frost, while a few rods east 'of Eichth West there were orchards that suffered considerably. con-siderably. The loss for the entire city is prin- clpally in cherries and apricots. Fruitgrowers Fruit-growers who visited the orchards this morning were very well pleased to see that the damage was really not I greater All who had smudge pots kept them burning all night and where these were used tho value of this method of protection was clearly demonstrated, dem-onstrated, George W. Watson, a prominent fruitgrower, says tonight that the loss by Wednesday night's frost Vill not exceed 2 per cent. Apples have not been tiarmed, he says, because that fruit has not yet progressed far enough to suffer. The thermometer at 7 o'clock this evening was 28 degrees abovo zero, but there was no indication that it would go lower. Loss Slight Around Lpgnn. 1-cgau. April 13. Fruit In this section sec-tion of all kinds escaped injury in last ntekt's freeze on account of being ltue In blooming. It Is generally believed be-lieved that the buds wero not far enough along to bo damaged, although the temperature dropped low enough to cause some anxiety among the growers. Fruit In this section is about three weeks later than in other sections, sec-tions, and for that reason passed safely safe-ly through tho freeze that must havo been damaging to a great extent if the bloom had been as far along as In other sections Indications point to n gradual rise In temperature, beginning be-ginning tonight. At 8:30 tonight thermometers ther-mometers stood at 30 and from the atmospheric conditions a drop of threo degrees will be the coldest it' will get tonight. Heavy" Loss at Tooele. Tooele, April 13,' It is estimated by farmers in Tooele district that tho frost of Wednesday night killed 50 per cent of the crop Peaches, cherries cher-ries and apricots suffered most, apples ap-ples escaping because of the fact that the blossoming stage ha6 not advanced advanc-ed sufficiently far to become dangerously danger-ously nffected by the cold. Tho weath-er weath-er tonight Ib again cold, and there may be further losses beforo morn Ing There Is not an orchard heater In the district A few of the farmers arc using straw fires with more or less success. Severe at Provo. Provo, April 13. Tho first reports received from the fruitgrowers this morninr wero very pessimistic. It being be-ing generally believed that all of tfie peaches, apricots and plums, of which poaches are the Ifirge crop, had been destroyed by tho frost during last night. Closer and more thorough Investigation In-vestigation today, however, has considerably con-siderably changed this oulnlon, and as the records come in from tho several sever-al sections in tho district a more favorable fa-vorable view of conditions exists It Is now believed that the frost of last night did not destroy more than one-half of the crop This is the opin Ion of experienced fruitgrowers and shippers, among them William M. Roy-lance, Roy-lance, Mayor W H. Ray, James G Duffln. William H Brereton and oth-crs. oth-crs. Mr Duffin says there will be a fair crop In orchards where the heaters were used, and somo fruit remains re-mains in places were no heating was done. When morning came many of tho fruitgrowers who heated their orchards or-chards were discouraged, and some of them decided that further firing was useless, but when they found, after investigation, that the damage was not as great as at first believed, they decided to continue the artificial heating heat-ing and preparations for again fighting the frost tonight have been carried on all day Director A H Thlesscn of the Salt Lake weather bureau was at the central cen-tral office in the Commercial club during dur-ing the entire night last night receiving receiv-ing reports and directing the work. The night was extremely cold, somo reports of temperature being as low as 17. while the average was above 20. This was In orchards outside of the heating line The heaters raised the temperature ! to C degrees On Provo bench the canyon breeze assisted very materially in warding off the cold north wind, and it Is believed, that a good crop will be harvested on the bench, even if in other sections the fmit is killed. The Pleasant View bench fruitgrowers fruitgrow-ers say they will have a good crop, providing they can ward off tho frost tonight, Mr. Thiossen forecasts another cold night tonight, but he does not think the thermometer will go as low as it dfd last night. William Roylance says he feels en-couraged en-couraged after examining tho buds. Preparations were made today to use smudge pots again tonight Th'o weather weath-er bureau gives promise of a break In the cold snap after tonight. The temperature here tonight at S:30 o'clock was 31, compared with 2S at the same hour Wednesday night. Had every large orchard owner been provided pro-vided with smudge pots the damage in this section of the state would have been small.' Only early peaches, apricots apri-cots and sweet cherries wero damaged at that. |