Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-30

o,,nsand amply matches TO the punches OF straw i
tu, - o-cbards and vineyards, and 80 the
49, and straw piles are fred all along dow
g. ,,ailsv almost simultaneously, and at the
soy,e time there arises dense vapory SMOKE
which soon forms an unbroken CLOUD, mover
inc over and protecting the vines ana Trees Oh
.l Ultra district The time to set the smoke
s w + has been found by experience, is about
an bouf before sunrise, and to continue about
an hsur after the sun is up. The cost OF tins
whole operation is comparatively nothing,
Int single smoke may save the entire grape
and fruit crop OF the valley. worth hundreds
az thousands of dollars. The occasion may
not come at all in season, and it may come
once or twice, but if it should come dozen
times the wide-awake people are ready Tor 1t,
and they protect their trees and vines and
fruit from injury and themselves from loss.
1t is all smoke and no fire that does the work,
and thus leads to the inquiry now smoke only
keeps AWAY the frost. Many have supposed
that heat was the object and that the fires
kept up the temperature SO that there could
be no frost. This is not the fact, and it Is
not heat but smoke that does the work. We
all know that frost seldom occurs of cloudy
night. and that even when we have frost In
the night followed by clouds to hide and pre-
vent the rays of the sun from falling on veg
citation until the frozen moisture has melted
away in the morning, but little injury gener-
ally results. Now layer of moist smoke in
the air over vegetation operates as a protec-
ton just as a natural cloud does. 1t checks
the falling current of cold air before the sun
rises, and then screens the vegetation from
the heated rays for time after the Sun is
above the horizon, and thus, in effect, pulls
Jack Frost's teeth from his jaws and renders
him harmless to nip the tender shoots and
flower buds.
Thieves in the Garden and in the Field
This announcement should make every
owner of garden, whether of vegetables or
of flowers. to discover and rout the thieves.
If human thieves, they must be arrested and
prosecuted in the criminal Courts, not only
to punish them for the offense Of stealing
from the owner, but to deter other thieves
from committing similar offenses against the
peace of the people. If they be thieves in
the shape of cattle. hogs or other animals,
tame or wild, they must be driven out and
the fence and gates secured, to prevent re-
petition of the depreciation. If their owner
can be found, he must be warned that if q
repetition Of the offense be permitted
| the no.fence law will be Invoked, and the Of.
| tenders corraled till the damages are settled.
| But if it be found that the thieves that are
stealing away our crops and our profits are
weeds, that are carrying on an indirect theft
| by taking the moisture and the fer
| tility of the soil from our cora and
potatoes ,and other plants in the garden
and field, then what shall be done
prosecution of course. and that immediate
we must arrest the thieves, and that without
waiting for the slow process of the law. We
| must in this case take the law into our own
| hands, and Immediately apply lynch law to
| the case, and not only cut the thieves heads
! off, but dig them up by the roots and exter-
inmate the entire race, that they will never
| steal from US any more. The fact is these
| weeds that steal our crops frem US are the
| lowest class of thieves. They come in day OF
night in good weather and in bad, when We
are awake and when we are asleep, and they
come up from under the ground and do us
much damage before they become bold
enough to show themselves on the surface,
and we must treat them accordingly
At whatever sacrifice of time and labor
this class of thieves must be exterminated OF
our years efforts will be lost, or the products
and profits of the year will be greatly re-
duced Now is the time to find them, and
now is the time to kill them. An ounce Of
prevention is worth a pound OF cure. A
| stitch in time saves nine. A word to the
wise is sufficient