32 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



crop was gone. My anxiety prompted me to rise early for a visit to 

 1 he vineyard. I found it covered with a heavy white frost at early 

 daylight. I turned from it in the firm belief that the crop was ruined. 

 Bu1 at that time it was perhaps two hours before the sun could get 

 up high enough to strike the vines and in the meantime the wind set 

 in from the south so warm that it rapidly converted that white frost 

 into a heavy dew before the scorching rays of the sun could catch the 

 vines and the injury from the frost was almost entirely obliterated and 

 I realized a fair crop. It is said that a frosted rosebush left on the 

 lawn in a pot can be saved by removing it into a dark room and 

 sprinkling with cold water. It is a well known fact that dangerous 

 frosts are most liable in a dry time, especially when the moon is full 

 and that frosts rarely occur after a day of rain, although the clear up 

 may be with a dangerously cold wind out from the northwest. 



These reliable observations point to water as the most hopeful source 

 for a plan of protection against damage from frost. A water system 

 with air pressure, pipes, hydrants and hose, supplemented with a good 

 spraying outfit will save early planted cotton, vineyards, strawberry 

 beds, gardens and orchards of orange and peach from the injury of 

 frosty nights. In this connection I speak of cotton fields because I 

 am told the boll weevil can be beaten by early planting but in that 

 case the planter has frost to fear. I am aware that danger to orange 

 orchards comes in winter as it does to peach buds when unusually low 

 temperatures are experienced. My faith in water as a shield against 

 cold leads me to think a spray of water that would cover the trees with 

 ice would save the buds from intense wintry cold. This, however, is only 

 a suggestion for an experiment well worth trying. If found effectual 

 it would be cheaper than smudges or firepots. 



My only aim in this paper is to suggest the possibilities of water 

 for a protection against frost and I submit facts that sustain the 

 theory. If I am correct, the idea can be so developed as to prove of 

 enormous value to planters, orchardists, gardeners, grape and small 

 fruit growers. 



We have reached the age of intense farming in every branch for every 

 section of our wide and varied resources. There must be higher culture 

 for both men and soil. The draw-backs are many, but enterprise, 

 energy and intellectual activity can conquer success as in a skillfully 

 conducted battle. The day has dawned when the successful farmer must 

 quit the beaten path of the past and the stepping from the deep, out of the 

 prejudice proudly live and act in the light of an era that invites a 

 marvelous advance with electricity, the gasoline engine, the telephone, 

 concentrated fertilizers, improved machinery and all the inviting at- 

 tainments of science relating to nature's courtship. Our national 

 progress and the bright future that stretches far down the brightest 

 vista the world has ever seen, demands of the farmer that he take the 

 advance, not as a "Hayseed" but educated, enlightened, a prince among 

 men. the crowned hero of all producers; a scientist so deeply versed 

 in the moods of nature that he can study and understand her, experi- 

 ment with her many phases and be able to make her his assistant in 

 every change. Nature is not fickle, her change comes in obedience to 

 laws that are of an unchangeable average, These must all be under- 



