The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-12-17

CTS, $zo,4oO would insure the Safe-
ty of crop worth 5000, 900 to the peo-
pie of this community, aid with oil at
2 cts the cost of such immunity would
be reduced to $14,950.
As 10 tae danger period of frosts
I would say in general way that
there Is not any great danger of the
destruction of the fruit until after the
buds begin to open up. The time OF
the opening of the buds varies with
the varieties of the apples and also
varies In different years. According
to our observations the buds here or
dinarily begin to open about the 1st
of April and are in full bloom by the
l0th of April, but for the past two
years (that is, in the seasons of 1908
and 1907 the buds began opening on
about March goth and were in full
bloom by the 1st of April. Nothing
but a severe freeze will hurt tie fruit
before the opening of the buds, but
any degree of cold below 32 degrees
Fahrenheit is dangerous after the op-
ening of the buds and until the ap-
Piles are from one-third TO one-half
inch in diameter.
Our low record here of about "a
degrees below zero was at $50 a. m
February 18th, 1905. This was, of
course, long before the buds lad swol-
len but the frost undoubtedly injured
the crop. although the crop that year
was fairly good one.
Practically, therefore. We should
be prepared TO smudge between, say
the 18th of March and the 1st of May.
From 1903 TO 1909 inclusive we
have had only one total failure and
that was in 1907 and was due to a
cold spell commencing at a. IN. on
April 21st. From about a. N. to
noon Thursday and from midnight to
a. m. on April 22nd, the thermome-
ter ranged from 80 TO 80 degrees, and
on April 29th for a short time at mid
night IL went down to 23 degrees. Ac-
tive use of sInudge pots on these days
especially if large pots mad been us
ed-could have saved the crop.
The other year of a poor crop was
1903, and | have no temperature rec
ords for that year.
This year the conditions as to tenn
perature were such as to render
smudging necessary to save the crop,
but the conditions were very much
less severe than in Colorado, where
much of the crop was saved by smudg-
ing, and in other apple growing dis
tricts, where smudging was not re-
sorted 10 and where the crops were a
failure.
On March 18th, the Thermometer
d.
March 21st, 80 degrees between $50
and g.: 80 a. m. on the 22nd, 81 de-
grees at s a. IN; on 31st so minimum
at a. IN. On April 1st, the mercury
went down to 30 degrees at about 3
a. IN. and to IS degrees at about a.
m. and on April Sth. 9th. and 10th,
fell n few degrees below freezing be-
tween the hours of 3 and 6 a. m, the
minimum being about 26 degrees a;
about a. IN. ON April 9th.
You Will See that with such con-
ditions there was considerable diff
Guilty in knowing when to light the
pots, especially when the whole pro-
cess was new and much of an expert
nent with us. but in spite of the in
experience Mr.. Green succeeded in
getting the results | mentioned above.
There was shipped from our orchard
% carloads of epples and sold local
ly enough to make about 10 cars
more. Probably four-fifths of this
crop was due entirely to smudging.
There were very few other apples
grown in the Valley this year. With
full equipment of pots in the Valley
the crop secured would have brought
gross from S25O,000 to $500, 900, as the
market was very good.