Smyrna times., 1886-03-10
For The Smyrna Times.
Frozen Peaches.

L lOAOu odOu0Os
Probably it would not be at this |
writing safe to assume that the peach |
crop of the Peninsula for 1886 is not al |
ready to great extent Winter killed
that is to say, killed by the exception
al cold of but a portion of two days
the mornings of the 9th and 2Sth of
January last. If proof were wanting
of this being so, it would be abun-
dantly supplied in the extended range
of the investigation for the dreaded
black spot in the buds throughout the
peach belt since then. The keen ewes
of experts, and keener still, those who
have capital invested in the produc-
ton of peaches, have concluded that
the season of 1886 will go on record as
an off year in the supply of this fruit.
But while this was taking place and in
all due Difference to those who made
it, let it be allowed that it is a truism
by those who grow peaches that all the
buds on the New years wood will not
mature into fruit and that it would be
unfortunate for the tree if they did,
tacitly admitting by this reasoning
that there is law of OfCOmpensatiOn, gov
erning the growth of peaches as other
things and which is not at once appar-
ent, or becomes so in the search for
frozen buds, hence the uncertainty at
tending strictly speaking empirical
trials at this time in the formation of
peaches on the tree. Then again
another and important investigation
was never made to make sure of this
certainty, and that is, the accuracy of
the thermometer or those two fatal
mornings, in recording the tempera-
ture below the sO-called zero. And
what is zero? What man or what
text book can in telling the farmer he
will lose his peaches at so many de-
grees below zero and still be unable to
tell him what zero is, be looked upon
as read up right smart. 1t is true
that the discovery by Galileo that a
column of atmosphere thirty-fOur feet
high would balance an equal column of
water in vacuO, led TOrricelli, Pascal
and some others to "catch on" and do
the same thing by mercury in a glass
tube thirty four inches high, and later
on, Fahrenheit, to be more exact,
made a mixture of snow or pounded
ice with sal-ammOniac or sea salt, into
which he plunged the bulb of a ther-
mOmeter and marked the lowest point
the mercury made in the tube as zero,
| and died without giving a reason for it,
OF the faith that was in him.
An IsOthermal registration, bv
which is meant an equal temperature
/ by the thermometer, would make it
zero around a considerable radius from
the place of record, but instead, a vari-
alton of as much as six degrees in
sixty feet has been noted. 1t ought to
be borne in mind by those who pin
their faith on what the thermometer
reads in regard to the safety of the
peach crop, that Fahrenheit did not,
nor could not, in producing his lowest
cold for the zero of his thermometer
take any account of thermal heat what
ever. Ifthe peach crop of this PENN
sula has in five hours, on two days
"gone under by a cold six times
more severe than a mixture of pOun-
ed ice and salt, it is well to know it.
but it is also we'll to know that nc
two thermometers are or have been
found that recorded such was the fact
a quarter of a mile apart. The con
traction and expansion of the mercury
in the bulb off thermometer is because
it is a fluid acted on by the air outside
which itself can expand and contract
producing what are called Thermal
waves; hence the erratic recording oil
so many thermometers with bulbs
alike and to all intents perfect instru
ments. But they do not record the
fluctuations of thermal waves at the
! hnA 6 of, ,lar nd
they do not their record of the TEN
) perature is so far unreliable for the
peach crop to pull through" on the
aforesaid law of fcompensatiOns. Black
buds to the contrary, unless the COndi
ton of the atmosphere has at any time
!, this Winter been isOthermal, no Othel
hope but the breaking up of the isOth
ermal condition and the regular swell
, of thermal waves can make this posi-
BILE since peaches will not stand a TEN
} peTature of g. below zero. To thu
north of US, beyond the twelve mile
circle, the hills of Pennsylvania ar'
barely high enough to mitigate thu
rigOrs of her own climate without of
tering any protection to her once
"three lower counties" From that di
rectiOn the apex Ofthe Peninsular waite
shed is but rising sixty feet above tn
waters of the two bays, which lave an(
} laugh along its sides down to the bit
/ ter end, while all else between lies a
fiat as one of our Incompatible griddlt
cakes. No lofty coast range on either
side to grasp the sweeping northern
blizzard and make the valley thereil
contained a Veritable Canaan, flowing
not with milk and honey, but witt
SmOcks and shiny YOrks. No, withOu
| these thermal waves and laws of com
; pensatiOns, the prophecies would in
deed be too true, that is made eaCl
year on the crop without them. anC
how could we get through the White
, without peaches being found wanting
in the balance?" The outlook wOult
) be dreary enough. As the power @
: sun heat is sufficient to form coal from
vegetable strata in higher latitude
, than this, we certainly can look witt
= our short but hot Summers the absorb
ton of quantity of heat equal to pro
r duce thermal waves or eXhalatiOn
strong enough to keep the tempera
l ture from being isothermal durin
t Winter, and slender rs may be thi
theory in furnishing timber for tn
2 ship of Hope, we had better build on
5 from it and escape the worse one Q
2 useless repining, trusting, as all must
; to Spring and the run of shad," 70
, whatever luck it brings. ~
< 1t has been over Il score of year
} since n discovery like the compound c
e DIR. Henley's Celery, Beef and Iron ha
S been made. The constituent parts ar
= daily used by the leading Physician
= of Europe and America in their praC
f tice, who recognize in celery the bes
nervine known. The extract of beef
most nutritive and invigorating, Will
the iron is a tonic for the blood an
4 food for the brain. 1t is remed