An overhead irrigation system is not only a labor saver in the summer time, but it is a most efficient means of overcoming late spring and early fall frosts by spraying water on the 
crops during frosty nights 
Fighting Frost with Water and Smoke 
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES IN SAVING CROPS WHICH SHOW THE EXTRA ADVANTAGE OF HAVING AN ADEQUATE 
WATERING SYSTEM INSTALLED— TENDER PLANTS SAVED IN EARLY SPRING AND THE SEASON LENGTHENED 
I. SPRING FROSTS AMONG THE 
VEGETABLES 
By Archibald Rutledge, Pennsylvania 
W HAT sight can be more heart- 
breaking to the true gardener 
than those frost blackened rows 
of plants which, until that night 
in late April or early May when the tem- 
perature took a fatal drop, had been the 
garden’s beauty and pride! How are the 
spring frosts, to be most readily provided 
against? I have tested the following meth- 
ods, and successfully too! 
Let us first consider those plants whose 
natural tendencies are to early growth dur- 
ing the season when dangerous temperature 
changes occur, and are to whose nature frost 
is fatal. Cabbages, cauliflower, green peas, 
lettuce, onions, and even beets will stand a 
moderate frost without injury; but beans of 
all kinds, peppers, tomato plants, straw- 
berry blossoms, and potato tops may be 
entirely ruined or so badly set back that the 
bearing will be delayed and the ultimate 
yield will be inferior. Many a beautiful 
stand of early potatoes has been ruined by 
frost, yet in every instance, providing the 
plants were in the home garden, the crop 
might have been saved if simple methods 
of protection had been adopted. 
If there is a threat of frost, one of several 
methods of precaution may be taken to pro- 
tect potatoes. If the tops are as yet small, 
the loose earth of the alleys should be pulled 
up clear over the foliage. This will cause no 
damage, and will give the tender green 
leaves perfect protection. In a few days, 
the tops will vigorously force themselves 
through the covering soil. If, when the 
frost comes, the tops have already attained 
too large a growth to permit hilling-over, 
other precautions are equally effective. Very 
slow-burning smoke-smudges, kindled at in- 
tervals along the rows, will spread a low- 
hanging smoke which is reasonable insurance 
against frost. Again, if the patch is not too 
large, the plants can be protected by cover- 
ing with newspapers, burlap bags, hay, 
straw, and the like. 
In case frost has attacked unprotected 
potato tops, the damage may be undone by 
a simple yet little-known method. The 
effectiveness of this depends, however, on 
the severity of the frost; nothing can repair 
the damage done by a regular freeze. Before 
the sun has touched the plants, sprinkle the 
foliage copiously with cold water. The frost 
will be melted slowly; and, when the sun 
does strike the tops, there will be no wilting 
and no blackening. 
The actual damage done to potatoes by 
frost is not to be underestimated. For 
testing out this, in the same patch certain 
rows were protected and others permitted 
to be frosted. The frosted plants bore 
later, and not more than one-third as many 
tubers as those which had not been touched. 
A spring frost frequently comes when the 
strawberry bed is in full blossom. LTnless 
protected, the crop will be practically 
ruined. Spread newspapers, bags, or any 
light covering over the bed. A frosty night 
is generally still; and it is not likely that 
the covering will need to be weighted in 
place. 
When protecting plants which grow singly 
rather than in a bed, it is easier and more 
economical to cover them with flower pots, 
large tin cans, small boxes, or best of all a”d 
probably most readily secured, empty fruii 
or vegetable crates that can be had for little 
or nothing from a grocer. For an ordinary 
light frost, such a covering will be sufficient; 
but if a freeze threatens, burlap or hay should 
be laid over the crates. Such a method 
insures the best protection for the tender 
plants; for peppers, tomatoes, lima beans, 
and the like. String beans in rows can be 
easily protected by newspapers. 
102 
If tomato plants have been frosted, and 
the stalks are too fine and sturdy to be dis- 
carded, the patient gardener will top them 
at the first leaf-joint. They will send up a 
new top and will soon be going about the 
season’s business in a satisfactory manner. 
Peppers, being really tropical plants and 
thoroughly intolerant of frost, will be more 
reluctant to recuperate. 
II. USING SMUDGE IN THE ORCHARD 
By W. Ramsdell, Conn. 
E XPERIMENTS have demonstrated 
beyond refutation, that artificial heat- 
ing will protect orchards and small fruits; 
such a course is effective and practical — 
particularly with late frosts, on nights when 
the air is nearly without current. For 
several seasons the Oregon State Experi- 
ment Station has been conducting experi- 
ments to ascertain the relative efficiency and 
practicability of materials and methods 
suggested for emergency frost-fighting. 
But in this matter, the experience of two 
small fruit growers in widely separate 
sections of Connecticut is of interest, and 
possibly may be the means of saving some- 
body’s fruit crop this spring. One of these 
men grows only strawberries, the other 
raspberries and currents chiefly. The 
former is located in Northwestern (Litch- 
field County) Connecticut, the other in the 
Eastern part (Windham County) of the 
state. One is located in a small valley (a 
pocket), the other nearly “on the top” of a 
considerable hill. Each told me he had 
never tried any orchard heaters or fire pots, 
or other manufactured appliance for frost- 
fighting but each has fired to prevent frost 
damage several times in the past dozen 
years — but let they themselves tell their ex- 
periences. 
“ I have never tried (nor even seen) any of 
these specially manufactured contraptions 
