FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
77 
trees this line of protection was not fol¬ 
lowed further. 
As the Weather Man seemed to have 
acquired the “Florida habit” we decided 
to undertake orchard heating by means 
of open wood fires, and in the fall of 1902 
provided a supply of heart pine wood for 
a five acre section of our grove. We se¬ 
lected the best timber possible to be got¬ 
ten in our then pine-clad hills with a view 
to its lasting qualities in the event it was 
not promptly used. This wood cost us 
about $1.50 per cord laid down in the 
grove. It was piled in the tree rows, on 
a basis of one half cord per tree, trees 30 
feet apart. The fire piles were arranged 
in the center of the checks, and a large 
handful of “turpentine scrape” placed un¬ 
der the upper sticks for quick lighting 
when ready to start the fires. This sup¬ 
ply of wood lasted three years, since it 
was not until January, 1905, that such a 
temperature was experienced as to require 
fires. The work of firing was an entire 
success, and the fruit, foliage, etc., was 
thoroughly protected through a tempera¬ 
ture of 17. 
During this and later periods of cold 
we found we could readily maintain a 
difference of 15 to 20 degrees between 
the temperature in the fired area and out¬ 
side. 
Though entirely successful with this 
method of protection it is not without its 
drawbacks. In our locality we found it 
difficult to get sufficient teams to enable 
us promptly to renew the wood supply 
in the event it was burned early in the 
winter, so that there was always a period 
during which we could not have afforded 
protection, owing to the lack of fuel, no 
matter how badly it might have been 
needed. Contrary to the practice of many 
growers we did not haul the wood out of 
the grove in spring, considering this en¬ 
tirely too expensive in comparison with 
the advantage secured of having the space 
between the trees clear, hence our wood 
piles were always an impediment to grove 
work from one year’s end to another, af¬ 
fording a harbor to undesirable growth, 
and owing to rapid decay adding much 
trash to the soil. 
These and other considerations led us 
to investigate the claims made for the 
use of crude or fuel oil for orchard heat¬ 
ing. During the years 1909-10 we se¬ 
cured samples of each of the various 
smudge pots then on the market and test¬ 
ed out with a view to determining their 
comparative merits. In no case did we 
find a pot that fulfilled the claims made 
for it by the manufacturers in the mat¬ 
ter of oil consumption, or heat produced. 
Invariably we found that to* secure a 
reasonable volume of flame a greater con¬ 
sumption of oil than claimed was neces¬ 
sary, also that a greater number of pots 
per acre was required. In 1910 we placed 
in one of our groves 1700 of the Hamil¬ 
ton heaters. These were arranged in 
pairs 15 feet apart, rows 30 feet apart, 
200 to the acre, the plan being to light 
alternate heaters, the others being held 
in reserve for an all-night battle if needed. 
Up to this time we have had no occasion 
to use them in the groves so can give no 
results. We have, however, used the 
heaters in a fruit shed, walls 16 feet high 
on three sides, open on the front side, 
55 heaters to one half acre. With the 
covers of the heaters pulled out to afford 
