The Dolores star., 1909-10-15

Tsasphses Sssssssrds valssbse Frsit
crsps.
One oe The many benefits the tele-
fIbhons has conlerFcd upon the fsrn,ing
| sspslhtSou of the west y In saseguard-
IIsg crops. with the coming Of the
ssssou's nrst severe frost in the fruit
sections Of Colombo and Utah was re-
ported the story Of bow fruItgrowen,
by 90 osgsnised use Of the telephone,
were able to combat successfully the
Killing blight. Valuable crops were
saved BY means Of the systematic gath
sfing Of weather reports.
The farmers In this section are much
slated over the succsss Of their endea-
vors, and they ars blessing the little In
struInent that -msde possible their vic
tory over Jaek Frost. A striking evi-
dence Of the value Of the telephone lies
In dispatches frpm the Grand Valley
Ia western Colombo. Across the line,
In Utsh, . late frost caused heavy
lossss. The cold was every bit ~ In
tense In CoIorndo, but here the farmers
bad their organization and the frui,
was saved.
In this particular locality the rural
telephone service was ON the lines Of
the Rocky. Mountain Bell Telephone
Company, and the instruments In the
fruit-growers' hands were those Of the
Western Electric Company, which
makes all the telephones used In the
entire He'll system. The story Of how
these Colombo growers banded together
for mutual profit is an Interesting one.
The Journal issued by the telephone
company describes It In these words:
The Grand Valley ID about eighteen
miles long aud from two. to four miles
wide. The growers divided the valley
Into districts aud employed man in
each district to make thermometer
readings during cold nights or when
the weather forecasts Indicated any
chance for frost. These readings were
reported to the weather bureau by tele-
phone every hour. When the cold
wave started up the valley the observer
in the district fint reached by It report
ed the drop In temperature immedi-
ately aud continued to report every
few minutes ~ the mercury continued
TO 60 dgwn. When the danger point
approached, the weather bureau In
structed the telephone company to ad-
wise all fruit growers In the valley 10
start fires In their smudge pots. The
telephone company sent the word to
every grower who had telephone anu
In few minutes smudge pots were
burning in all parts Of the valley.
The crop was thus saved at mini
mum cost. II was estimated by fruit
expert who Was ON the ground during
these frosts that 1t cost the growers one
cent an hour to operate smudge pot.
aud there were approximately $4,000
ln use, making the total cost $3.50 an
hour for the valley. II the telephOn.
had not been used 1t would have been
uecsssary to operate the smudge pots
sboutten hours each cold night to be
on the safe side. As 1t was, they were
operated only about four hours, thus
making saving Of $4,000 each cold
night. In addition to this, the grower
was enabled 10 sleep up to the time OF
lighting the pots, which was an ini-
portant fact when one reflects that this
took place in the busy season, when
growers had to work hard sll day.
The growers of the Grand Valley
have perfected regular organization
in this connection and have system
atised method for receiving the tele-
phone Information. Their success has
caused others to take great interest IN
the matter with . view to taking ad-
vantage Of the idea in other localities
where frost damage IL a constant men,
ace to the fruit industry.
As the telephone Is factor necessary
to the success Of such a plan, represent
tatives Of the telephone company
should make every effort to give tnfor-
nation regarding this matter to all
fruit growers in the territory. The
grower without telephone can moi
hope to profit by such an arrangement.
A similar experience was reported
not 60 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.
Rapchmen, farmers aud fruit-growers
without telephones find that they are
severely handicapped.
$4,000