The Ordway new era., 1909-10-08
Telephone Safeguard yaiua6Is
Fruit crops.

IpOpuIuLIOn OI ltc WcsL Is ln S1Iekudfu-
ing crops. With the coming Of the
seasons first severe frost In the fruit
sections Of Colorado and Utah was re.
ported the story OF how fruit growers
by an organized use Of the telephone.
were able to combat successfully the
killing blight. Valuable crops were
saved by means OF the systematic gath
cring OF weather reports.
The farmers In this section are
much clated over the success Of their
endeayOrs, and they are blessing the
little instrument that made possible
their victory over Jack Frost. A
striking evidence CT the great value
OF the modern telephone lies In dis
patches from the Grand Valley, 10
western Colorado. Across the line In
Utah, u late frost caused heavy losses.
The cold was every bit as intense in
Colorado, but here the farmers had
their organization and the fruit was
saved.
In this particular locality the rural
telephone service was on the lines OF
the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone
company, and the Instruments 10 the
fruit-growers' hands were those OF the
Western Electric company, which
makes all the telephones used In the
entire Bell system. The story OF how
these Colorado growers banded tOgeth-
cr for mutual profit Is an interesting
one. The journal issued by the tcle-
phone company describes IL in these
words
"Thc Grand Valley IL about eigh.
teen miles long and from two to four
miles wide. The growers divided the
valley into districts and employed
man In each district to make thcr-
mometcr readings during cold nights
or when the weather forecasts indica-
ted any chance for frost. These
readings we're reported 10 the weather
bureau by telephone every hour. When
the cold wave started up the valley
the observer In the district first
reached by II reported the drop in
Temperature Immediately and con-
tinued to report every few minutes as
the mercury continued to go down.
When the danger point approached,
the weather bureau instructed the
telephone company to advise all fruit
growers In the valley to start fires In
their smudgc pots. The telephone
company sent the word to every grow
cr who had a telephone and in a few
minutes smudgc pots were burning In
all parts OF the valley.
"The crop was thus saved and ata
minimum cost. 1t was estimated by
a fruit expert who was on the ground
during these frosts that It cost the
lgrOwer one cent an hour to operate
the smudge pots and there were ap
lprOximately 25O,OOO In use, making
the total cost g., 500 an hour for the
valley. II the telephone had not been
used 1t would have been necessary to
Operate the smudge pots about ten
hours each cold night to be on the safe
side. As IL was, they were operated
only about four hours, thus making a
Saving OF $l5, 900 each cold night. In
addition to this the grower was ena-
bled to sleep up to the time. OF light
ing the pots, which was an important
fact when one reflects that this took
place in the busy season, when grow
ers had to work hard all day.
"The growers OF the Grand valley
have perfected regular organization
In this connection and have system
atized method for receiving the tele-
phone Information. Their success
has caused others to take great inter-
est In the matter with a view to TAX
ing advantage of the idea In other To-
Icalities where frost damage is con-
slant menace to the fruit industry.
"As the telephone Is a factor neces-
sary to the success Of such plan, rep
resentaLives Of the telephone compa.
ny should make every effort to give
information regarding this matter to
all fruit growers in the territory. The
grower without telephone can not
hope to profit by such an arrange
ment.n .-
A similar experience was reported
not SO long ago by fruit growers In
Canon City, Colorado. Instances Of
this sort go far toward explaining the
enormous Increase Of telephones in the
west during the past few years. Ranch
men, farmers and fruit growers with
out telephones. find that they are se-
verely handicapped.
I, Frtthtful Fate Averted.
4 II would have been cripple for
life, from terrible cut on my knee
-. ....iA lEs.a ninl.rnns, Knlll.