270 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



at their most tender stage. Owing to the irregular distribu- 

 tion of the fires and the limited area over which they extended 

 at all systematically, it was impossible to secure any reliable 

 temperature readings. At points where trees were sur- 

 rounded by fires the temperature at times was raised as much 

 as five or six degrees, but it did not remain constant. 



ORCHARD HEATING EXPERIMENTS. 



Last spring we experimented for the first time with a pat- 

 ent orchard heater. We used the Troutman oil pots holding- 

 one gallon each. The fuel was what is known as fuel oil. 

 Where seventy of these pots to the acre were used in an apple 

 orchard, the temperature was raised as much as three and 

 one-half degrees, but where 100 to the acre were employed, 

 the air was made as much as eight degrees warmer than other 

 parts of the orchard where there were no heaters, but the 

 trees in the latter case were planted much closer than in the 

 former. 



This experiment showed that the pots were of practical 

 value, and that the temperature in an orchard under ordi- 

 nary conditions could be raised materially. However, it 

 should be remembered that results secured from heating small 

 areas are not to be compared with the results that might be 

 obtained where large areas are heated, because the more heat- 

 ers that are used in a district at the same time the easier it 

 will be to keep up the temperature. The effect is cumulative. 



The fuel oil used was donated by one of the big oil com- 

 panies, and the price quoted for the material was six cents 

 per gallon in barrel lots f. o. b. St. Louis. Later, quotations 

 were secured from another oil company at five cents per gal- 

 lon f. o. b. Kansas City to be delivered in the company's tanks. 

 It is very probable that it could be secured at much better 

 figures if the demands were sufficient. 



In Colorado the fruit growers use what is known as a 

 "smudge oil," which is the crude product with the gasoline 



