Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-11-03

clouds hurrying from the northwest, chased by
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 the warning of the diligent local gov
ernment weather forecast: "Freezing temperature
tonight" BY seven O'Clock the government ther-
mometer is at 81 and falling fast. AS 80 o'clock
he telephones the weather man and gets the reply:
Bitter cold all the country; temperature is
already down to thlrty-seven in many parts the
valley and Will drop to twenty degrees on the
western slope of Colorado tonight" By eight
O'Clock 1t has fallen to ~. his alarm begins TO ring
and he knows that King Frost with his lcy-fngered
warriors is marching on the camp Steam whistles
beginning to shrek a through the valley to
warn the growers of the all-nght siege. Farm
wagons laden with coal and oil rattle past giving
evidence that The laggards who have been hoping
to the last, beginning to get their heating ma
chinery into action. Already the early ones are
firing heavily. Clouds of smoke hang low the
trees, and the little spots of fire beneath punctuate
the blackness with rays of hope
The orchard firemen dash for the trees. torch
in one hand and gasoline can to aid in quick
lighting In the other. Dashing few drops of gaso-
line the oil, they apply the torch, and the blaze
is at work. The lighting Is done fast the
walk through the orchard, leaving trail
of smoke and fire behind them. In fifteen min
utes each man has his tract of orchard transformed
into sea of flame under cloud of smoke.
Then comes the first period of rest. The men
gather in the packing house or barn. for lunch
smoke, making occasional trips to the thermOme
that the fire is doing its work. By 0 80
O'Clock the thermometers outside the orchard reg
lister 2S. and those in the of heat show com
Portable 81. Then the frost fighters know that the
battle is half won, for keeping up the temperature
is n good deal eusier than raising it when it has
reached the limit. The rest is n matter of
vigilance. If the heater is of the regulated type,
with enough fuel to burn through the night or
longer, a few left to watch and open
the burners wider If later sudden fall of tempera-
ture shows that fire is needed If the heaters
of the uniform single-burner type they may
need TO be retlled when they nearly burned out,
If the frost battalion should come back for another
charge The outside thermometers drop to o. and
those in the orchard stand at 30, the danger mark
of the orchard frost fighter The heaters are
opened wider, refilled if burning low and the
mercury shoots up 10 SO. The eight degrees of
frost has been driven away, and If the oil supply is
plentiful and the labor unnagging, the orchardist
may now consider the battle won. When the sun
has shed hls rays the trees long enough to
make the outside temperature more nearly that of
the orchard. the hcateEs shut Off by merely
putting on the covers.
Heating in the spring e 1911 was much easier
than that of the year before, and proved CON
Cusively than ever the effectiveness of the fires
The crop in the Colorado fruit area for 1911 aver
aged about 50 per cent. The unheated orchards