The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-10-27

clouds hurrying from the northwest chased by n
bitter wind which seems To have been intended
for January rather than this April night. He goes
To the post office for the days mail and in every
window sees the warning of the diigcnt local gov
crnmcnt weather forecast: "Free2ing temperature
tonight" by seven o'clock the government ther-
mOmcter is at 81 and falling fast. As 30 o'clock
he telephones the weather man and gets the reply
Bitter cold all over the country; temperature is
already down To thirty-sevcn in many parts of the
valley and will drop to twenty degrees on the
western slope of Colorado tonight by eight
o'clock il has fallen to -, his alarm begins 10 ring
and he knows that King Frost with his icy-hugcrcd
warriors is marching on the camp. Steam whistles
are beginning to shrek all through the valley to
warn the growers Of the all.night siege. Farm
wagons laden with coal and oil rattle past, giving
evidence that the laggards who have been hoping
10 the last are beginning to get their heating ma
chincry into action Already the early are
firing heavily. Clouds of smoke hang low over the
trees and the little spots of fire beneath punctuate
the baCkncSS with rays of hope.
The orchard hrcmcn dash for the trees Il torch
I'm one hand, and gasoline can To aid In quick
lighting in the other. Dashing few drops of gaso-
line ON the oil, they apply the torch and the blaze
is at work. The lighting is done rs fast rs the
men can walk through the orchard, leaving trail
of smoke and fire behind them. In fifteen min
utcS each man has his tract of orchard transformed
into sen OF flame under II cloud of smoke.
Then comes the first period of rest. The men
gather in the packing house or barn, for lunch or
smoke, making occasional trips to the thcrmome-
to that the fire is doing its work. by $3.50
o'clock the thermometers outside the orchard reg
lister 2S and those I'm the area of heat show COM
Portable 81. Then the frost fighters know that the
battle is half won, for keeping up the temperature
is a good deal easier than raising il when 1t has
once reached the limit. The rest is matter of
vigilance If the heater is of the regulated type,
with enough fuel To burn through the night or
longer a few men are left To watch and open
the burners wider IL later sudden fall of tempcra-
ture shows that more fire is needed. II the heaters
are of the uniform Singleburner type, they may
need To Ice rcllcd when they are nearly burned out,
If the frost battalion should come back for another
charge. The outside thermometers drop To ~ and
those i'm the orchard stand AT 30, the danger mark
of the orchard frost fighter. The heaters are
opened wider, or refilled If burning low, and the
mercury shoots up To 80 The eight degrees of
frost has been driven away, and IL the oil supply Is
plentiful, and the labor uniagging, the orchardSt
may consider the battle won. When the sun
has shed ms rays over the trees long enough To
make the outside temperature nearly that of
tie orchard the heaters are shut of 10y merely
putting on the covers.
Heating i'm the spring OF 1911 was much easier
than that OF the year before. and proved more con
. clusiyely than the effectiveness of the fires
The crop in the Colorado fruit area for 1911 aver
aged about 30 per cent The unhcGted orchards