FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
65 
readily with the oil that it will not easily 
catch a few minutes after application. 
New heaters should be dipped all over. 
Mexican crude serves very well for this 
purpose. If you are in a rush to get them 
out this plan may be used. Fasten a 
stout box with the front side cut out all 
but a strip at the bottom to the back of 
your wagon under the tank spout. Keep 
a little oil in the bottom and place a burner 
on this when filling. This oiling will 
preserve the bottom for one season, and 
after being filled and placed the other sur¬ 
faces may be covered by hand with a 
brush as time serves, but do not be too 
long about it. 
In putting out the burners we have a 
wagon loaded with bowls and tops follow 
the tank wagon through the grove. As 
indicated above, the bowls are filled and 
placed two rows on each side between the 
trees, but not in the squares. This leaves 
the rows open one way and puts 65 to 70 
pots to the acre. A quick shut off valve 
in your tank is a necessity. While the 
tank wagon is being refilled at the main 
supply the other hands can fit on the tops, 
stacks and stack covers. We are depending 
on tank wagons to refill even at night, 
using special five-gallon buckets to carry 
oil to the burners. It would be best to be¬ 
gin refilling if weather conditions are very 
bad some time before actually needed, 
but better yet, to have burners of sufficient 
capacity to burn nine hours at full blast 
We have been painting the covers once 
a year and the bottoms of the bowl are 
automatically oiled when filled. When 
taken up the oil is hauled back and 
pumped into the storage tanks, the bowls 
nested and turned upside down and put 
under shelter. When the nests are thus 
handled the oil adhering to the inside of 
one bowl drops down on the bottom and 
sides of the bowl within it. This method 
seems to keep them in a good state of 
preservation without further dipping. If 
they are burned they will have to be 
dipped again. 
In case of cold without rain we expect 
to' have all burners ready for lighting, 
with drafts pretty well open. Six men 
with gasoline torches can then light them 
very rapidly, so we can afford to wait 
until the last moment. If it is raining 
and freezing too, we will have to begin 
earlier, allowing for time to open and 
light at one operation. This is not usual¬ 
ly the case as the rain stops before the 
cold comes in, but it happened once. After 
the burners are lit the men will come back 
and regulate the drafts to the lowest point 
that will hold the temperature. All au¬ 
thorities agree that it is much easier to 
keep up the temperature than to raise it 
again when once fallen. One should 
therefore begin on time. The actual 
temperature to begin operation depends 
- on several factors. Oranges would not 
freeze above twenty-eight degrees. Not 
even then if the temperature does not last 
long. If the trees are dormant they will 
stand it also. With trees in a normal * 
winter condition, it will be safe to wait 
for a temperature of thirty degrees, with 
indications of further drop before firing, 
provided, of course, that it can be done in 
a reasonable time. The previous rate of 
fall of the mercury gives a pretty good 
indication of what the next morning’s 
cold will be. The barometer also studied 
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