IN THE EVERGLADES 135 



Of course, the latter is found impracticable on large areas, but 

 can be taken advantage of in cases of valuable seed beds. 



Devices designed to prevent rapid radiation of heat from the 

 earth include screens which can be drawn over the plants. These 

 devices are of a necessity limited to very small areas on account 

 of; the great expense incurred. 



Probably the great remedy of the future will be to build 

 smudge fires of any material which will create considerable smoke. 

 For this purpose litter of any variety can be used. However, it is 

 impossible in many cases to get enough of this material to continue 

 a smudge for any great length of time and for this reason piles 

 of logs or stumps can be collected from clearings of land and 

 can be stored to great advantage. Tar has been used for this 

 purpose with beneficial results. Of late we are offered a variety 

 of smudge pots, using as fuel crude petroleum, which is supplied 

 from storage tanks or wagons driven through the fields. These 

 have been largely used in the peach and apple belts of the north. 

 A number of them are placed upon the market in this country 

 and so far results have been very gratifying. 



We may possibly be able to utilize briquettes made of peat, and 

 I am under the impression that if these were thoroughly dried 

 and saturated with crude petroleum they could be stored for 

 future use on the edges of the fields, and if they were burned 

 in an oven or sheet iron stove they would no doubt last for a 

 great length of time and give correspondingly good results. 



Where an overhead spray is available frost cannot do damage 

 and a number of fields have already been protected in this way. 



In the Everglades sub-lateral ditches can be filled with water 

 by pumps of large capacity, and if this water is allowed to flow 

 slowly through the ditches it will thoroughly protect a field from 

 frost. 



