FROST 
winds carry the clouds against the moun- 
tain range and deposit a large amount of 
rainfall on the western slope. Compara- 
tively a small amount of moisture is car- 
ried in currents high enough to cross the 
mountain range from the west to the 
east, for the average amount of rainfall 
on the west side is about forty inches per 
annum, while the average amount on the 
east side would be about ten inches per 
annum, or only one-fourth that of the 
west, but of the amount that is carried 
across the mountain range from west to 
east the highest peaks and the eastern 
slopes receive their share in the form of 
snow and ice, and the air is never warm 
enough at that altitude to melt it. When 
we say, therefore, that the higher alti- 
tudes are warmer, that is true up to a 
certain point; it is true in summer where 
there is much radiation of the sun’s heat 
from the surface of the earth and after 
the sun has set and the cool air of the 
mountains is coming down the valleys; 
it is also true up to a certain altitude 
only, but beyond that the higher we 
ascend the cooler the atmosphere. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
For additional information on orchard 
sites and soils, see Selection of Site under 
Apple Orchard. 
FROST AND FROST FORECASTING IN 
THE NORTH PACIFIC STATES 
* Protection against frost injury is by 
no means a new thing, although perusal 
of some recent writings and discussions 
would lead one to believe that it is. As 
a matter of fact, however, the protection 
of plants and fruits from frost injury 
dates back perhaps more than two thou- 
sand years. It is known that the Romans 
practiced heating and smudging as a 
protection against frost injury; this fact 
is vouched for by Pliny, who recom- 
mended the practice. Smudging was also 
recommended by Olivier de Serres, a 
French agriculturist, in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. He recommended the use of wet 
straw and half-rotten manures so as to 
produce a heavy smoke. In the latter 
part of the eighteenth century the prac- 
* Office of Pathologist, Medford, Ore Bulle- 
tin No 5 
1011 
tice of smudging was compulsory in parts 
of Germany, and failure to comply with 
certain set regulations resulted in prose- 
cution before an officer of the law who 
imposed exemplary punishment. It is 
also recorded by Boussingault that the 
Indians of Peru practiced frost preven- 
tion, and that this was inherited from 
the pre-Spanish civilization. A reference 
to the literature which we have at hand 
shows some of the earlier work in frost 
prevention was by no means so crude as 
one would suppose. As a matter of fact, 
some of the modern practices are less 
scientific in their adaptations than the 
earliest attempts at frost prevention of 
which we have any record. During the 
eighties and early nineties the French 
vine growers did some remarkable work; 
and we find them even at that time using 
heavy oils as fuel, placing these oils in 
flat ironware dishes. There were also 
used many prepared fuels, which would 
render a very dense smoke. There had 
also been devised systems of automatic 
lighting which were more or less success- 
ful. These systems were operated by a 
mercuric column, not very much unlike 
some of our modern automatic alarm 
thermometers. Even at this time it was 
understood that there is a certain ad- 
vantage in co-operation in frost preven- 
tion since the work done by one grower 
nearby aided in the protection of the 
crops of others. About the same time 
that the French vine growers were carry- 
ing on their work in frost prevention by 
certain heating and smudging devices, 
our California and Florida orange grow- 
ers were experimenting. At this time 
some of the deciduous fruit growers of 
the Sacramento valley and elsewhere in 
California were also working along this 
line. 
Mr. Edward A. Beals, of the U. S. 
Weather Bureau, ‘located at Portland, 
Oregon, says with respect to the history 
of frost prevention in the Northwest: 
* Very few growers in the Northwest 
a few years ago made any attempt to 
protect their orchards from frost, and 
those that did were not very successful, 
* Weather Bureau Bulletin No. 41. 
