The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-17


the press is not full"
Tho Artificial Preteotion OF Fruit and
| As the present stormy spring advances the
annual fears for the fruit crop increase The
horticultural interests of some sections are the
vital interests and 1t has become important to
all classes, the producing and consuming alike,
to save the luscious fruit crop from the DESC
lating breath Of March frosts. Among the
late and valuable results of meteorologic
inquiry Is very simple method of ascertain
ing on any particular night whether frost will
occur. This is done by first ascertaining the
given time and place, the atmosphere will
part with its vapor, and this vapor be de-
posted as water. A simple little instrument
of recent invention, known as Edsons
hygrodeik, indicates to any observer at
glance and without any calculation the dew
point. Where it is exposed, and If the latter
is considerably above the freezing point Of
fresh water, no danger need be apprehended;
whereas If the dew point indicated by the
hygrometer is under thirty-two degrees
Fahrenheit, frost may be predicted with GER
tainty, and no time Is to be lost In shielding
the tender plant from its nipping effects.
Unless the wind veers during the night from q
| point of cold to one of warmth, or oice versa,
the hygrodeik's indications are very reliable;
and in this country, by reference to the daily
weather reports and predictions of the Signal
Service, the horticulturist or farmer may
almost invariably learn whether the wind will
veer.
Taken in connection with this scientific
expedient for predicting frost, an American
meteorologist proposes another expedient for
the complete artificial protection Of fruit and
vegetables after it becomes known that the
| frost will occur. The winds, which some
times in a single night destroy the finest pros
poets of the husbandman, usually come from
the north or northwest, and it is proposed to
protect the largest orchards by one or both of
| two ways First, to kndle fires on the wind
| ward side Of the orchard, which, from his
knowledge of the local pecuiarities, the
farmer is generally good judge, and to rely
upon the veil Of smoke spread over the trees
| to shield them. 1t is claimed that such q
smoke-curtain overhanging the exposed area
will serve effectualy to arrest the radiation Of
solar heat from the earth and from the wood
of the trees, and thus to keep the dew point
above the freezing point. Or, where 1t is pos
sible and convenient, to evaporate water in
large boilers ranged on the windward side of
| 10
a better preventive Of deadly frosts arising
| from the radiation of heat, not only from the
soil of the earth, but from the fbres of the
plant. The ascensional movement Of air over
the fires or large boilers would, it is con-
| tended, serve to divert above the tree tops
the current Of frigid and frost-bearing air. In
the longitudinal valleys Of Switzerland it has
been found that the coolest currents descend
close upon the ground, and the Swiss
villages are generally built OH emil
nences rising out of the side of the
mountains, and bounded on both sides
by gorges and ravines, into which the coolest
descending currents turn aside. In the noun
famous parts of our country this fact might be
taken advantage of in the artificial protection of
fruit by the means just sugge sted. The eff
cacy of these means Is attested by the dis
tinguished physicist Bousngault, who states
that in the plains of Cusco, in Peru, especially
on still, clear evenings, the Indians set fire to
heaps of wet straw or brush, and by this
means raise clouds of smoke, which prevent
frost-the smoke acting as o mantle to the
earth, enabling 1t to retain its warmth during
the night. 1t is also well known that the
peasants of Chamouni, In Switzerland, do the
same precisely if their crops have not ripened
toward the end of the season, burning green
wood on the two sides of the enclosing noun
tains of their valley, the smoke of which, form
ing in the middle cloudy canopy, ef-
fectually obstructs the radiation Of heat into
free space and protects the growth of the sum-
mer. The Signal Service, if properly devel-
oped and extended, as the people are now de
handing of Congress, will afford all the In
formation necessary for the immense agricul-
tural and horticultural interests of the country,
and prove of as great and meal culable benefit
to them as 1t has already proved to the mer-
camille and shipping interests.
CANADA.
The MechapIcs OF the North Agitnting for the
L