The Raymer enterprise., 1916-10-26

| SelenuHc orchard heating has
- made 1t possible to raise the
temperature Of 200-acre orchard ten to fif-
teen degrees with as much certainty as the
Jantor can heat the city mans fiat. 1t takes some
what more labor than the last mentioned process,
but the satisfaction and the profits of "heatlng all
outdoors are surprisingly greater. Frost Insur-
hnce Tor the fruit crop Is now just as practicable
Just us certain, and vastly profitable for the
money expended than either fire or life insurance
insurance by hre for the fruit grower makes
vastly greater profits at much smaller expepsa
than Insurance against fire does for the merchant
or manufacturer. The little outdoor oil stoves and
coal furnaces that have been sold by the millions TO
orchard owners In the last yea and a half hive
oahlshed from the fruit grower that annual earIy
epins nervous prostraton from fear of frost; that
periodic paralyzing fear that he may 20 to bed Mt
night and awaken to find his whole years labor
chilled to death by Sudden frost The cumulative
despair of losing three four fruit crops In sue
cession that has put fruit growers out of business
ana made them dependent on charity or day labor
is past. An orchard with reasonably industrious
ana provident owner can be made to yield an aver.
age crop every season so far as the frost Is con-
cerned. Scientific frost fighting with fire is as
much fact seed testing irrigation. fertilizinp
spraying or pruning. Ii is the last and greatest
advance In systematic horticulture and has placed
the fruit grower abreast of the scientific farmer.
Since the beginning Of commercial horticulture
the fruit grower has been at the mercy OF the ele-
ments. lie made all his calculations, all his plans
all his business arrangements contingent on the
hope that the frost would miss him. And before
the development of orchard heating the chances
against him were getting worse In the frost belt.
In the modern, commercial orchard, the land. ma.
chinery, labor spraying equipment and cultivation
total ns heavy an investment many manufacture
ing enterprises. And when two or three crops In
succession were wiped out by frost the average
grower was completely bankrupt.
Smudging or the formation of n dense blanket
OF smoke over the orchard, had been practced with
varying degrees OF success in some parts of Europe
Orchard heating proper was first used in Califor-
mia. and the original California smudge pot is still
successfully employed In many orchards. In the
spring of 1910 several growers In the Grand valley
of Colorado experimental with the burning of oil
In simple pots of the "lard pail" type with the
result that they saved their entire crop on the heat
ed areas and lost 1t on the unheated tracts The
spring Of 1911 saw the adoption of the smudge pots
on every fruit section of the state and they
reached the experimental stage In several other
states. In the spring of 1912 there was not fruit
growing state without them, and many sections
OF several states were ns fully equipped as Colo
RADIO.
Frost fighting is not easy job II is neces-
sary 10 have force of men, Industrious and care
full and observing 10 the last degree. And 1t is no
pleasant task to rush out into the STILL cold dark
TO drudge the better part Of the night to save
your own your nelghbor's orchard In the early
days of orchard heating a man was detailed TO
watch the tested thermometers that were hung In
different parts Of the orchard and at the farm
house some distance away from the fruit trees.
II the temperature not sinking fast, perhaps
the rancher went to bed for brief nap setting his
alarm clock to wake him ut intervals through the
night. Nowadays he can go to bed with feeling
Of security. leaving the frost alarm thermometer
to watch for him. This electric watchrnan has for
its business end In the orchard u specially made
thermometer. with fine platinum wire fused into
the mercury at the freezing point or at whatever
IA considered the danger point. As soon as the
mercury sinks below this wre the circuit is broken
and the alarm at the head Of the orchard boss
he'd rings out It's warning. Any Interruption Of
the current causes the bell to ring SO that II the
npn rutus should be put out Of order It automat-
|cally tells on itself.
a., the orchardist ID usually forewarned. even
Aefore he goes to bed. and makes ready for the
- late in the afternoon he notices great Heecy