174 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



vested in farms is to the capital invested in vessels as a thousand to one, it will 

 at once be seen that if timely warning could be given of the approach of 

 storms that thousands of dollars could be save to this State alone. 



Of the extent and severity of a storm, we can have but a feeble idea because 

 it is unseen. It comes in a wave of cold air, blasting fruit buds and fruit 

 trees, and is gone before we can protect our trees from its chilling blight. 

 You remember the Mill Eiver disaster, — how the deacon mounted his horse, 

 and galloped down that valley of death, giving warning to the inhabitants 

 that the reservoir would soon give way, and the fearful volume of water 

 would carry every thing before it. But that body of water went only at the 

 rate of twenty miles per hour. How feeble a thing compared with a storm! 

 Here we have storms extending over a vast extent of country, and proceeding 

 at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, when it comes in all its terrible 

 reality and spreads like a great cloud over the land, destroying the prospects of 

 many a farmer, who, struggling with poverty and sickness to eke out a scanty 

 subsistence, sees the result of his year's toil offered up to the insatiable appe- 

 tite of the elements. Thrice terrible when we know that had he been warned 

 of the coming danger, a portion of the crops at least might have been saved. 

 The cold winter storms which do so much damage to fruit, are usually formed 

 in the wilds of Dakota, that desolate region cursed with Indians, grasshoppers, 

 and Jay Cooke's Northern Pacific Eailroad. Thence coming down upon us 

 like a vast polar current, it nips our fruit buds, and compels us to bid farewell 

 to many of our most delicious fruits. 



The Signal Service officer is in telegraphic communication with all parts of 

 our country. By noting the temperature, and watching the fluctuations of 

 the barometer, he is enabled to know the severity of storms, and the direc- 

 tion in which they will proceed. If signal stations could be established in 

 various parts of our State, and some signal given of the approach of a storm, 

 such as the raising of a flag, or the firing of cannon, a portion of the crops 

 could be gathered, at least. 



As an example of what may be done for protection of fruits, we will cite a 

 a single case. In France, when danger is feared from frost, fires of coal tar 

 are built around the vineyards, and the smoke floating above them entirely 

 prevents the formation of frost. If in this country we were ivarned of the com- 

 ing of frost, might not similar means be tried, and with similar results ? 



In looking over the past, what a sad history is presented of the waste of 

 farm productions which might have been prevented by proper foresight. In 

 the year 1857, after the wheat was cut and in the shock, several days of rainy 

 weather caused the grain to sprout, and the wheat was so utterly ruined that 

 the housewife said that ''she had to shut not only the oven door, but the 

 doors of the house also, to prevent the bread from running out into the yard." 

 During one fall, a few years ago, while the trees were loaded with apples, there 

 was a sudden change in the weather, a few inches of snow fell, and the conse- 

 quence was, that the apple crop of this section was almost an entire failure. 

 The signal officer was probably aware of the coming of this storm, and with 

 signals of warning given at different stations in our State, almost the entire 

 crop might have been saved. 



Many attempts have been made by the people of this State to have signal 

 offices established, and have failed. The Agricultural College offered the serv- 

 ices of a telegraph operator, gratis, if the government would establish a signal 

 station there. The signal officer replied, very curtly, that they had received 



