The San Francisco call., 1904-12-25
FIGHT AGAINST
FROST BEGINS
Methods Employed in France
to Give Notice of Approach
OF Much Dreaded Enemy
MOVABLE SNIUDGE GOOD
In Some Districts Artificial
Showers Are Produced to
Protect Endangered Crops

MS Ddltle Win lue IOSl luS
farmer must have news Of the coming
OF the frost and many means for Civ
Ing warning have been employed In
France frost bells are sounded when
q frost Is expected and grape grow
ers protect their crops by pouring tar
on the ground among the vines and
setting il on fire. The smoke thus
made often saves the crop OF an en-
tire vineyard, a. fact OF interest to
Americans, who are good customers OF
the French grape growers. as is shown
by the demand for the cold bottle ID
accompany the hot bird.
In America there are districts
where il was formerly a practice to
maintain a regular messenger SER
vice that the weather bureaus predic-
tons Of frost might be promptly car
rieo 70 farmers and fruit growers. To-
day there are many places where,
when frost is predicted, the whistle
on a factory in a village sends forth
notes Of warning over the farming
country for miles around. In other
localities the news is given by flags
placed where they can be seen at con-
siderable distances.
More important than these aids TO
the weather bureau. however. are the
rural free delivery. the telegraph and
the telephone The telephone in many
regions is rapidly supplanting other
agencies and the officials OF the Bel
Telephone companies tell many stories
OF the way in which the news of the
coming Of the frost is spread broad
cast. In 1903 nearly 10000 villages
and farms received daily forecasts by
telephone and nearly 5000 had ar
rangements for receiving special
warnings Of frost and sudden storm
In that single year the number of
places receiving forecasts by tele-
phone increased by nearly 10000.
MOVABLE SNIUDGE Is USED.
The farmer has a choice of several
agencies in protecting his crops from
frost. Should a stranger in the coun-
try district see at night the glow of
smoky fires mounted on carts and
drawn around field or orchard il
would be erroneous for the visitor to
infer that the farmers were using
these perambulating bonfires for pur-
poses OF celebration AS a matter Of
fact, the mOveable smudge is one of
the devices for repelling the advance
Of the legions of General Jack Frost.
The purpose Of the smudge is 10
create smoke which hangs like d
cloud a short distance above the sur
face Of the earth and imprisons the
heat, which would otherwise be radi-
ated through the upper air. Smudges.
both Of the kind which are hauled
from place TO place and those which
are stationary. are used in the fruit
orchards OF California and other Pacific
Coast States, in the orange groves Of
Florida and in the wheat fields of
the Dakotas.
While the smudge is used for the
purpose OF creating a cloud of smoke
above the surface Of the earth and i'm
prisoning the heat which .yvouId other
wise be lost by radiation. fires Of a
different kind are employed to actually
raise the temperature in an orchard.
Several years ago experiments were
tried in California in which oil was
used as fuel II made a hot fire and
was neither expensive nor difficult to
manage, but as il covered the trees
and fruit with lampblack the system
was not regarded as OF great value
Small coal fires, on the other hand.
give excellent results and in the orange
groves Of California sometimes fifty of
them are started in a single acre. This
costs about 81 a night, but as the
oranges maturing On the trees in that
one patch Of ground may be worth s4OO
the money spent for the coal fires is
really very cheap insuraIe ee.
SPRINKLING EFFICACIOUS.
Another OF the methods employed to
avert the danger from frosts may be
described as the artificial shower. The
story Of how this is used on one Cali
1Crnia ranch is told in a United States
Government publication. Did it come
from a less reliable source the man
who lives in city and knows little
about farming and fruit raising might
put il II the class with the stories told
by the returning trout fisherman.
The owner Of this ranch caused TO be
erected on ii a number Of masts, fifty
feet high. At the top Of each mast was
fastened a sprinkling device through
which "a ater could be forced. On nights
when the temperature sinks to the
frost point the pumps begin 10 work,
The spr mixers commence to sprinkle
and the air is filed with a fine spray.
which SO charges it with moisture that
IN nearly every instance the protection
givep the ripening fruit has been
sufficient.
The owner OF a little patch of gar
den and garden hose. if he will get
up just before sunrise on q frosty
morning may save his precious vege-
tables by sprinkling them. He is doing
in A small way what the ranchman in
California acc0mplishes by the use of
the hfty-foot mast with the sprinkler
at its tor.
For The protection of large fields and
orchards another elaborate scheme has
been used with more or less success.
This consists in extending TO different
parts Of the area to be protected pipes
which are connected with a steam
boiler, steam being generated on frosty
nights ano distributed by the pipes 10
the places where it viii do the most
good
SWAMP LANDS FLOODED
Water is extensively employed in