PROTECTION OF SMALL FRUITS FROM FROST. 453 
been found that the smoke and vapor from this fire spread out in a long trail 
behind the wagon, settling down rather than rising to any considerable 
height and effectively shrouding the orchard or covering the field with a 
thick fog. One team can protect a great many acres in this way. The plan 
is well worth adoption in this state, and we trust that whoever does attempt 
it will write our office in Columbus of the results. 
A mixing of the air can be effected by building numerous fires; these will 
also raise the temperature of the air to an appreciable degree. The River- 
side Horticultural Club, in California, in 1897-8, carried on very careful ex- 
periments, and among them was the use of wire baskets of coal scattered 
about the orchard for the purpose of giving dry heat to the air. Their best 
results were obtained with from twenty-five to fifty baskets to the acre. In 
one case one man, working alone, with twenty-five baskets to the acre, 
raised the temperature of his fruit orchard from three to five degrees and 
saved his crop of oranges, worth $400. The cost of equipping an orchard 
with fifty baskets to the acre was about $5, and the fuel to run them for one 
night was less than $3. Where coal is as cheap as in Ohio there should be 
a thorough test of this plan. 
Cabbages have been effectively protected in Texas during temperature 
considerably below freezing by an handful of hay placed on the north side of 
the plants, and potatoes were saved by covering with old sweet potato vines. 
Strawberries not mulched or protected by hay last winter were generally 
killed there, while protected strawberries were largely saved. About ten 
tons per acre of hay, costing about $1 per ton, was used. In the extreme 
south very much is being done in protecting against frosts and freezes, and 
in experimenting in smudges, irrigating and spraying, etc., to protect the 
crops. 
ITEMS FROM PRIVATE EXPERIMENT STATION AT 
BEDERWOOD, LAKE MINNETONKA. 
ROLLA STUBBS. 
Apple trees came through the past winter looking good and healthy, 
and made a good growth this past season. Some eight or ten trees out of 
300, from three to five years old, died, the roots being killed by winter 
freezing (one Ben Davis, three Martha crabs, two Wealthy, etc.). Out of 
nearly fifty varieties there are no trees looking better than Patten’s Green- 
ing. Some seedlings bore this year for the first time, and all bore a fair 
crop. There was not a tree affected by blight this year. 
Our Minnetonka Fruit Growers’ Association shipped 2,000 bushels of 
crab apples, which brought $1.00 per bushel; some 300 or 400 bushels of 
crab apples marketed in Minneapolis. Standard apples, over 2,500 bushels, 
were marketed in Minneapolis at from 75 cents to $1.00 per bushel, mostly 
Duchess and Wealthy. 
Plums did well here and were not bothered with curculio or bloating 
at time of bearing. The Eureka plum was the heaviest loaded this year, 
heavier than for years past. The Hawkeye plum bore for the first time; 
they were four years old. I pronounce them an excellent plum, being so 
large and smooth. 
The Early Richmond and English Morello cherries bore fruit for the 
first time since setting. The eight weeks of dry weather hurt them very 
