GUARDING AGAINST FROSTS. 201 



GUARDING AGAINST FROSTS AND FREEZES WITH 

 SMUDGES AND HEATERS. 



C. E. MINCER, HAMBURG,, IOWA. 



Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen : 



When 1 was assigned by your Secretary to say a few words 

 in regard to tliis subject 1 prepared a few remarks based upon 

 some little experience I liad had myself and upon the experi- 

 ence of a number of people I have had the opportunity to meet 

 during the past year. The things I shall be able to tell you 

 will come more from people I have come in contact with than 

 from my own experience. Since preparing that paper I had 

 the pleasure of seeing Professor L. W. Powers, who read a 

 paper at the Missouri meeting on the same subject and which 

 was very exhaustive. I shall turn this paper over to the So- 

 ciety here to use in your report, as I consider it very valuable, 

 but I wish to give him full credit for anything I may copy 

 from him, right at this time. Altliough this subject was lim- 

 ited to the protection from frosts and freezes by the use of 

 smudges and heaters, the remarks the gentleman just made 

 about apples being frozen in the fall dittering from those 

 that were not frozen on account of the care that was given 

 them, there was nothing said about coming tlirough the bloom- 

 ing time. 



In our section we have proved successfully that the trees 

 that are sprayed will stand the frosts of the spring better 

 than those not sprayed. This is not an experiment. So it is 

 really very wise to guard against frosts and freezes outside 

 of using smudges and heaters. The experiments in protect- 

 ing orchards against frosts and freezes extends back quite a 

 while. In France they used to build screens and vines and 

 then they tried to stretch wires on poles and cover them with 

 cloth. There have been methods tried in irrigated countries 

 of turning water in the ditches, which produces moisture la 

 the air. In other places they laid pipes through the orchard 



