76 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
much value two or three years after you 
get it as it is at first. 
Mr. Cullen: In filling and emptying 
the crude oil, there must be a good deal 
of it spilt on the ground, and I would 
like to know the effect of this crude oil on 
the trees or the roots. 
Mr. Stevens: I asked Mr. Hamilton 
when he was here last December. He said 
it had no bad effect. We have had in 
our groves little low places where oil 
had been spilt and after a heavy rain 
these low places would fill up and the 
floating oil would spread all around where 
the water ran over this low place. So 
long as the oil does not get on your foli¬ 
age, it does not seem to do any harm 
whatever. 
Mr. Wakelin: I have not noticed that 
it does much harm, but if it is spilt against 
the trunk of the tree, especially if the sun 
strikes it, it will make a very bad burn. 
Mr. Skinner: I would like to know 
whether pruning a tree high or low from 
the ground has any effect on the manner 
in which a grove is heated. 
Mr. Stevens: If the limbs in a grove 
reach over and close over in the middle 
of the rows, it would be much better to 
have small fires and more of them. It 
would be the same as a fire in your grove 
and might cause some damage in spots. 
Mr. Skinner: I referred to having the 
trees pruned high or low from the ground 
whether or not the difference in air cir¬ 
culation or air drainage caused by this 
difference in pruning, had anything to do 
with the heating. 
Mr. Stevens: I think the less air there 
is stirring around, the better it is. I don’t 
think I would prune a grove with that 
end in view, however. 
Mr. Stewart: What effect has a stiff 
west wind on heat. 
Mr. Stevens: We put our heaters 
double thick on the west side. It would 
be harder to heat the west than the east 
side. The heated air will blow from 
the west to the east. It is simply a mat¬ 
ter of more fuel. 
Mr. Stewart: How about that ’99 
freeze that caught the blaze and carried 
it right out of the grove. The wind 
came from everywhere. 
Mr. Stevens : I don’t know; I was not 
firing at that time. 
W. J. Ellsworth 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemens. 
The subject of orchard 1 heating has 
been of deep interest to me for many 
years past, and I have followed as close¬ 
ly as possible the work done along this 
line, from the so-called shed with various 
arrangements for securing overhead light 
and at the same time enabling the grower 
to speedily close the openings to exclude 
cold, the v-shaped individual windbreaks, 
tents of various designs, open wood fires, 
and now the up-to-date oil pot. 
Our first venture in the field of orchard 
heating was an investment in 300 of the 
Painter tents, ranging in size from three 
to nine feet across and six to nine feet 
high. These were a great success from 
the standpoint of security, easily operated, 
afforded an abundance of light/ and, pro¬ 
vided with double burner brass lamps, 
secured absolute protection for the trees 
inclosed. Owing to the rapid growth of 
