Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-04-17
ARKANSAS VALLEY FRUIT
GROWERS USING SMUDGES
Valuable Crop al ,oIorasio's agricWi-
tural Districts Are 4" H. saved b,
Improved N,th,sis This Year.

Pu"0lo, Colo April H. with the
fruit crop of the Arkansas valley ~
the stakes. preparations for the strug.
gle between tho fruit growers ana tho
elements ar" now undcr way l.. II,
Daingcrneld, local forcCasteg OF the
weather bureau, stated today that
Jack Frost WAS certainly after tn"
fruit crop. Last night the thcrmom-
cter registered - degrees above zero
~ canon city. tho heart of the fruit
belt IN the Arkansas valley, and today
the weather bureau warncd farmers
throughout u" valley from Lamar on
the east to canon City on the west
thai cNdcr weather would prevail to-
morrow. with possibly freezing tenn
pcrature tn, fruit growers are
ready Smudgc pots are SGT in
thousands Of orchards In the large
orchards watch VIII be kept almost
continually from nov on until May /
ana whenever the tempe nature reach
cs a. point where th"r" il danger FOR
The budding trccs. smudgc nrcs VIII
bc ktndl.d ana every rnort made to
protect the fruit.
So Tar the conditions were never
more favorable for bumper fruii
crop. Thc trees, IT h. claimed. have
not as yct boon damaged by the cold.
Many sch'mcs are used in the val
les TO guard gainst possible damage
hS frost On somc Instances the
trees are grubaed on ono side and laid
on the ground Sacks and straw are
spread over tho trees and Wnerc tn.
orchard rs particularly exposed earth
~ thrown over the cover This meth
cd has hrru succossful n orchards
located on exposed hillsido4 and In
places whore frost is most likely to
occur
Throughout the valley the farmers
have for tho most part found that|
smudging is -uHicient 20 protect the
fruit ana insure a crop under ordinary
conditions The government authuri
ties recommend the use OF smudgc|
rr"s, ANA advise farmers throughout
me Arkansas valley 70 equip their orr
chards with the inexpensive smudgp
pots ana sufficient charcoal or soft
coal to provide a heavy smoke when
ever the fruit crop is threatened by
cold weather
IN the average orchard q row Of
smudpc pots Us set between each row
Of trees with rows Of pots surround
ng The orchard on the WindMard
side Wn'u frost threatens the pots
are hght.d and IN. orchard onVeloped
IN blanket Of warm smoke which
keeps no" temperature at q point
whore tho fruit IL not damaged even
Nhon the temperature may fan sew
.rial degrees below freezing
While there is no great danger to
ne fruit crop NJ the Arkansas valley
az TINS time the weather bureau Is
advising tanners 90 prepare their
sinudge pots and bc in readiness from
May a. a. any time on short notice
10 start lhc .mudgc pots and save
their fruit crop.
The aN'rlga date of the last killlng
frost FOR tho Arkansas valley as com
piled from government statistics for
the past 2n wears IL April 81 Last
year there was no frost In the valley
after ApriI l6. once In 1898 the val
ley was visited by a Killing frost on
May ~ This In the latest date on
record AMI b tx SAFE 10 expect no
frost alter May |, although The wise
fruit groWcrs Keep their smudge pots
ready untl ln,c In May.
Win pl"nil of water for Irrigation