116 FRUIT RANCHING. 



morning we found by our minimum thermometer 

 that it had been as low as - 8 deg. Fahr. during the 

 night. That was five degrees colder than the coldest 

 night in the winter of 1907-8, and two degrees colder 

 than had been recorded at Nelson for nine or ten 

 years. On the following day a fierce wind came out 

 of the north. It penetrated at every cranny and 

 crevice of the house, of the greenhouses, of the 

 stables. It searched in underneath the foundations, 

 and thrust its freezing breath up through the chinks 

 of the uncarpeted floors. It froze the milk in the 

 dairy, the potatoes in the scullery, the water in the 

 buckets in the kitchen. If water was accidentally 

 spilled on the floor, it froze, even though only three 

 feet from the stove. A bucket of ice and water 

 brought up in the evening from the lake, and put 

 in direct contact with a big radiator, remained ice and 

 v.ater in the morning. During the night the water 

 froze in the kettles on the stove. The wind blew all 

 day on Tuesday, January 5, and all day on Wednes- 

 day, January 6, the thermometer dropping during the 

 two nights to —10 deg. and —13 deg. respectively. 

 Then the wind ceased. On Thursday night the ther- 

 mometer registered a minim.um of — 16 deg., and on 

 Friday night — 19 deg. It had never been known to 

 fall so low in the history of Nelson as an inhabited 

 place, and the records of that history went back for 

 a space of over twenty years. 



We began the spell of cold weather with about 

 six tons of gas coke in hand. We soon realised that 

 there was a very serious risk of our running short. 

 The gas works announced that their stock was 

 exhausted, and owing to the severity of the weather 



