86 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
my grove go, and it was injured more 
or less by cold, while the rest of it was 
saved so far as the trees go, and the fruit 
was saved so that I got good prices on 
the market after the freeze. 
Coke I know very little about; I never 
have used it but if it is better than oil 
I am very anxious to know it, because I 
want to use the best material I can get 
and that I can have available for the 
second and third and fourth nights, if 
necessary; something I can have in the 
grove ready to handle immediately with¬ 
out the employment of much help. 
My custom is to have two rows of 
wood around the north and west sides of 
my grove and try to warm up the air as 
it comes into the grove, and then keep it 
warm by the use of oil pots. 
I have not used the ground draft oil 
pot, because it does not seem to be as 
good as the square or oblong pots that 
were used before it came in. 
I like those because you can have the 
heat where you want it. They also throw 
off considerable smoke, and I am con¬ 
vinced that smoke is of great value. 
This year, where there was a two-acre 
grove to the northwest of another grove 
and there was one to the southeast, not 
being protected at all except as it got the 
smoke and warmth from the other groves, 
that two acre grove was perfectly pro¬ 
tected the coldest night we had and the 
fruit was shipped and brought a good, 
fair price, $550.00 per carload. 
I find that fruit lightly frosted will dry 
out a little in one end, but if left in the 
grove for a little while, they will come 
out all right. But $550.00 a carload is 
good from groves that have not been fired 
at all. 
In protecting your grove, you not only 
protect your fruit for this year, but you 
also protect your crop for next year, as 
has been mentioned. That is well worth 
considering. Even if your trees are 
only frozen enough to drop the leaves, 
that is quite a shock to the tree. The 
orange tree holds its leaves three years, 
and if they all come off at once, that is 
quite a shock. 
Another thing, now, in regard to prun¬ 
ing. If the trees have to be trimmed back 
to the size of your finger, that is a whole 
lot of work. A tree, too, after pruning 
like that, is more subject to disease. 
Going back to the subject of oil pots. 
I have heard those who have used it com¬ 
plain about the water getting into the pot. 
You have to watch them very carefully or 
water will get into them in spite of you, 
and then when you start the fire going, 
as soon as that water gets heated enough 
to be converted into steam (water when 
converted into steam increases its volume 
about 600 times), it will throw the oil and 
fire and everything all around, and you 
may have a serious injury. 
I have large tanks that hold 900 and 
1000 gallons and quite a number that hold 
600 gallons. I took what is called a bilge 
pump and I went around and pumped the 
water out from the bottom of my tanks, 
and in some of my tanks I got as much 
as fifteen pails full of water, that had 
settled at the bottom of the oil in my 600 
gallon tanks. 
If you don’t pump this water out, it 
