The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1911-12-15

not q coming thing. IL Is ALREADY
here and a mighty healthy adjunct
to the orchard industry. Thous'
ands of fruit growers have thor
oughly tried it out and today are
reaping the results in the way Of fine
crops of fruit selling at good prices.
Many other growers in the same
section show no crops as the result
of frost damage. Many growers
of Texas and other extremely windy
sections were successful against
most terrible odds, and saved not
only the buds but the foliage and
young wood on orange trees against
temperatures as low as fourteen
above zero and a wind of forty
miles an hour by the use OF the
larger and more powerful equip
ment, raising the temperature ten
and twelve degrees, which was
necessary to save the orange trees
from damage. In northern sections,
where but a few degrees of frost
and light or no wind was realized
many were successful with less
efficient equipment. The success of
orchard heating against any wealth
er condition yet realized is no long
er disputed and is fact when the
proper methods are. employed. It
is now a matter of selecting the
equipment of sufficient ability which
when handled with fair degree Of
intelligence, will result in success.
The most encouraging feature of
the proposition is that the growers
are intelligently inquiring into the
various features that make up the
work. The storm formation and its
action as it traverses the country
and it's results on the local weather
conditions are better understood by
the grower. The formation and
action of frost, the dispelling of it
and the prevention of it's damage
and influence are better understood.
The study of air drainage and its
influence on the orchard, the de-
velopment OF the fruit bud, the
length of time of blooming and how
much protection will be required
at it's different degrees of advance
ment are features of the science
that are interesting the grower, re-
sulting in the development of this
important work along practical
lines. 1t is now l question of pro
tective methods and what is the
best. Experience has taught many
a grower that something better than
the old obsolete method must be
adopted. Orchard heating ability"
is a live subject, and the grower
has already learned that his equip.
ment must have the ability to give
him heat intensity and regula rity
and if it is otherwise he will suffer
loss. He well knows that spraying,
cultivating and irrigating will pay
him returns largely in proportion
to how thorough he is with the
operation, but with orchard heating
each operation must be effective
against the frost of that particular
night; in other words, a finished
job. If he has not secured sufficient
heat to protect the tender bud in
bloom it will be killed. He may
have been successful in maintaining
temperature rise of five degrees,
the limit of his equipment, and if
ten degrees of frost existed he will
have lost his crop the same as
though he had not lighted pot. A
few degrees of frost during the first
week of bloom of certain variety
might kill all the bloom then open
and if no frost were realized during
the second week of the bloom full
crop would result, as the bloom
that came later was not far enough
along to be damaged by the light
frost that occurred the first week
of the blooming period. As result
of this condition one grower may
have heated during the first week
of the bloom successfully and his
neighbor who did not heat lost the
=