54 The Fruit-Growers Guide-Book 



thirty feet apart in the vineyard. This scheme possibly led 

 to the various smudging devices used in the orange grow- 

 ing sections of this country. 



Vapor smudges were used first in this country and 

 accredited to a California!! named Meacham. Small areas 

 were covered with wet straw, manure and cypress brush, 

 and the vapors furnished by these piles, when set on fire, 

 together with the vapor from evaporating pans, was cal- 

 culated to furnish sufficient vapor to cover the desired 

 areas. This method gave little satisfaction, for several 

 reasons. It necessitated the co-operation of every land 

 owner in the region and the vapors even then would rap- 

 idly disappear into space. The vapor, too, was lifted high 

 above the ground by the cold air flowing over the surface 

 from higher altitudes. 



The fruit growers of California seem to have been the 

 most active in this early work of protecting against frost 

 injury to their fruits. Edward Copley is credited with 

 having invented a device for burning coal in baskets to be 

 scattered through the orchard fastened to the limbs of the 

 trees. This system proved satisfactory, but had its limi- 

 tations. 



Briquets, composed of oil-refinery refuse, sawdust and 

 low-grade oil were pressed into a tube and used with or 

 without a wick. Cheap sheet iron stoves in which the 

 briquets were burned then came into use, and proved still 

 better than any of the devices yet introduced. 



The next stage in the evolution of orchard heaters 

 seems to have been an oil heater first manufactured at 

 Fresno, Calif., and since its invention there have been a 

 great many other styles put on the market. 



Colorado has come to the front in this work of devel- 

 oping frost fighting methods, and through the efforts of 

 the orchardists of that great state the present methods of 

 orchard heating have been brought to commercial perfec- 

 tion. 



