558 Protection of Orchards from Spring Frosts, [oct., 



Golden Wonder appears to have done best, though in one 

 case there was a " splendid crop " of Langworthys. At Norton 

 Bridge, Golden Wonder and Langworthy have done very 

 well, the soil appearing to suit these varieties. Conquest did 

 not crop well. At Childer Thornton, Langworthy did best, 

 though all varieties did well ; while at Haydock, near St. 

 Helens, all three varieties seem adapted to the soil. At 

 Rainham, near St. Helens, Conquest was said to be a good 

 cropper, immune to Wart Disease, and a distinct gain to the 

 neighbourhood as a second early crop. Langworthy gave 

 only a fair crop, while Golden Wonder was an excellent 

 cropper, free from any kind of disease, and with one other 

 variety was quite the best main crop potato which has been 

 introduced into this neighbourhood. It lacked the size of the 

 Up-to-Date, but gave a really good crop. 



The prevention of damage to fruit crops from spring frosts 

 by means of fires and smudges has been attempted by a few 

 growers in England with some success, 

 The Protection of an d j n those districts of the United 

 Orchards from States where fruit is wn on an ex _ 



Spring Frosts.* • . & 



* tensive scale, considerable progress has 



been made in recent years in investigating the value of 

 different methods. The United States of America Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture gives a summary of some of these 

 methods in their Year-book for 1909,-f while the results of 

 direct investigations are given in Farmers' Bulletin No. 401. 

 In the introduction to this Bulletin, the Chief of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry sums up the position at the present time 

 as follows : "Notwithstanding the favourable results obtained 

 it must be acknowledged that there is considerable doubt as 

 to the possibility under varied conditions of warding off 

 the damage from frosts by fires, and also some question as 

 to its practicability in open orchards." 



At the same time, recent experiments have proved that 

 damage to fruit trees by frost can be controlled to a greater 

 or less extent. Two methods have been principally adopted, 



* Previous notes on this subject have appeared in the Journal as follows : April, 

 1906, p. 57 ; June, 1906, p. 184; Sept., 1906, p. 375 ; April, 1907, p. 23; Oct,, 

 1908, p. 521 ; March, 1910, p. 1024. 



+ P P- 357 and 39°- 



