Development of Modern Frost Fighting 53 



early methods used by fruit growers to protect their fruit 

 from injury through unfavorable climatic conditions, was 

 used by a vineyardist in Austria, who resorted to the use 

 of explosives to dispel threatening hail storms. The region 

 was one where hail storms were prevalent and wrought 

 destruction to the grape crops. Mr. Albert Stiger, burgo- 

 master, Windisch-Briestrits, Austria, owned extensive vine- 

 yards, and decided to drive away the threatening storms by 

 firing small charges of powder from wooden mortars 

 towards the storm clouds. These explosions had a ten- 

 dency to break up the stratum of cold air and prevent its 

 settling in the low ground. The experiments were con- 

 tinued for some time and were considered as successful. 



It is a well known fact among farmers and fruit men 

 that injury to plants after a frost is always more serious 

 when the plants are allow r ed to thaw out rapidly. This 

 observation led to many early experiments in devising 

 means of shading crops so as to guard them from the 

 early morning sun following the spring frosts. Smudges 

 of many kinds were used for this purpose, the attempt 

 being to make an artificial cloud over the orchard to shade 

 the crops until after they had thawed out slowly. Com- 

 bustible matter capable of producing an abundance of thick 

 black smoke was used for this purpose. Heaps of fuel for 

 this purpose were scattered through the fruit plantation, 

 and at sunrise were set on fire to form a veil of smoke 

 over the orchard to protect it from the rays of the sun, 

 and also to prevent the radiation of heat from the earth's 

 surface; thereby maintaining the general temperature at a 

 point which would counteract the effect of frost. 



A gentleman living in Bordeaux, France, invented a 

 process of making thick black smoke for this purpose. 

 This consisted of small wooden boxes, open at the top 

 and filled with a compound consisting of equal parts of 

 resinous and earthy substances reduced to a fine powder 

 and compressed into a compact mass. A wick was placed 

 in the center of the mass and. served to light it. The boxes 

 containing this mixture were made of pine wood and were 

 eight inches long and six inches square and were placed 



