1910. 
FIGHTING FROST IN COLORADO ORCHARDS. 
Wanning All Outdoors. 
The late Spring frosts of 1907 caused the loss of 
the larger part of the crop of the Rocky Mountain 
region. This set the growers to thinking along the 
line of protection from frost injury in the orchard. 
The old-time theory of making a cloud of smoke 
over the orchard to prevent radiation was experi¬ 
mented with in many of the orchards during the fol¬ 
lowing Summer. This practice soon gave place to 
an effort to actually warm the air of the orchard 
by the use of small fires. The following years, 1908 
and 1909, brought late frosts again that in some sec¬ 
tions did much damage. Peaches suffered most both 
years. There is no doubt that many orchards of 
both peach and apple in Colorado were saved, or at 
least made larger crops both these years by the use 
of heat in the orchards. A great deal has been said, 
and many extravagant statements made in regard to 
this work of orchard heating. The Colorado Experi¬ 
ment Station has made some experiments and col¬ 
lected what data was possible concerning this work. 
The practice of heating has not been carried on long 
enough and the different methods experimented with 
enough so that we can determine all the details for 
the most efficient system. 
The first thing tried was the burning of trimmings 
and other rubbish in piles in the orchard. This meth¬ 
od was entirely too uncertain to be 
reliable for, though Colorado has the 
reputation of being always sunny, a 
late Spring frost is very apt to be pre¬ 
ceded by a storm that makes the brush 
too wet to burn. Making fires at given 
intervals on the ground also had its 
drawbacks, owing to their not being 
easily controlled. The next step was 
the heat or so-called “smudge pot.” It 
was soon demonstrated that fuel, as 
coal or oil, confined in an iron recepta¬ 
cle could be better controlled and made 
more efficient and reliable. Much dif¬ 
ference of opinion still exists as to de¬ 
tails in form and size of these recepta¬ 
cles. There are many companies in 
Colorado making these pots. 
An investigation of this problem 
was started on the west slope in the 
Grand and Uncompahgre valleys, and 
on the east slope at Canon City at 
about the same time. At Canon City 
a committee was appointed by the 
chamber of commerce that made experi¬ 
ments during the Summer. The facts 
brought out then were used the two 
following Springs with success. Of the 
various methods tried there the oil pot 
seemed to have become the most popu¬ 
lar. The pot consists of a simple sheet- 
iron can holding from four to eight 
quarts. From 50 to 150 of these were 
used per acre. Some difference of opin¬ 
ion exists among the growers as to the 
number per acre. About too per acre 
is the number that has been most used, 
but many growers think that 150 should 
be used to ensure success. It is prob¬ 
able that a great deal depends on the 
number of degrees of heat that are re- 
cjuired to keep the orchard above freez¬ 
ing point, and also the condition of the 
blooms at time used. The fruit seems 
to have least resistance to cold when 
the trees are in full bloom. Where 100 
pots per acre were kept continuously 
burning during the night the temperature was raised 
from 22 degrees above zero to above freezing point 
THE RURAL NEW -YORKER. 
it is more easily done. Capt. B. F. Rockafellow of 
Canon City, for 35-acre orchard paid $1,035 for equip¬ 
ment, which consisted of 3.500 pots and a steel tank 
for storing the oil. 
A considerable difference of opinion prevails as 
to when heating is necessary. Heat was applied from 
two to four times in many orchards last Spring and 
a full crop obtained. Some orchards nearby these 
were not heated at all and also secured a crop. It is 
quite probable, however, that at least some of these 
negligent growers reaped the benefit of the work of 
their more careful neighbors. The feeling among 
many of the better growers is that it is safer to 
heat once in a while when it proves to be unneces¬ 
sary than fail to heat when the crop will be lost 
without it. Consequently, we may sum up by assum¬ 
ing that orchard heating is a matter of insurance, 
much the same as spraying potatoes in the East for 
blight. 
As yet we have no means of knowing just what 
temperature will produce injury to the fruit. Prob¬ 
ably much depends upon the amount of moisture in 
the air, the rapidity of the fall in temperature and 
the corresponding rise after the freeze, as well as the 
condition of the buds, blossoms, or small fruits, at 
the time of frost. Some time when agriculture be¬ 
comes an exact science we may be able to determine 
beforehand just how many chances we may safely 
take. As it stands now, the orchardist feels that he 
early Summer Top, like early Irish potatoes, and 
fertilize them well. But I would like to have all 
cultivation cease in July, for the wood growth should 
then be made, and late stirring the soil may induce 
a late and imperfect development of shoots. Then 
I would sow the orchard in Crimson clover to be 
turned under the next Spring. In an orchard 10 
years old, which should be fruiting well if its pre¬ 
vious growth has been attended to, I would seed to 
grass and mow it several times a year, and leave it 
on the land as mulch. Then I would give the or¬ 
chard an annual dressing of raw bone meal, not 
less than 300 pounds per acre, and thus not only 
help the trees, but increase the amount of mulching 
material in the grass. In short, I would have the 
grass there solely for the benefit of the trees, and 
not for hay or pasture. I do not like corn in a 
young orchard, but always some low-growing crop 
that will mature by midsummer. You can plant cow 
peas in rows and cultivate them and reap these in 
late Summer, or let them die on the land, and sow 
Crimson dover among them in August for the 
Winter cover. Whether your land needs lime or not 
I am unable to say. You can test its acidity with a 
piece of blue litmus paper from a drug store, and if 
the paper turns pink it will do no harm to lime the 
land. T his litmus test has been described before in 
The R. N.-Y. If you do not want to grow potatoes on 
a large scale I would plant an early variety of cow 
peas in rows in the young orchards, as 
suggested above. Your soil as rule 
there hardly needs potash, and you can 
lime cheaply, being in a limestone sec¬ 
tion, and I believe that raw bone meal 
will make the best fertilizer for the 
trees. But in the case of the young 
trees put the fertilizer for the trees 
around and just beyond the spread of 
the top, and use some acid phosphate 
on the peas. During the early years 
of the trees we want to encourage a 
rapid growth to develop the top. Then 
when they should be coming into fruit 
put them in grass, and the slight check 
to the growth will induce the making of 
fruit spurs. w. f. -massey. 
HANDY TANK FOR DISTRIBUTING OIL. Fig. 119. 
HEATING POTS IN A COLORADO ORCHARD. Fig. 120. 
can spend some money and a few anxious nights each 
Spring in order to be more certain of securing 
O sr —1 o *** x. vvi tain jcv u 1 111 
At Delta and Grand Junction, where letters were crop that frequently means from one hundred 
sent out asking for the results of their work, it was 
found that out of 40 answers the average number of 
pots used per acre was 62 for oil and 59 for coal. 
The average rise in temperature was 7.5 degrees F. 
for the oil heaters and 6.5 degrees for the coal heat¬ 
ers. Most of the times when the heaters have been 
used in Colorado in the past two years the wind was 
blowing. The same degree of success could not be 
expected in those cases as when no currents -of air 
one thousand dollars per acre. 
Colorado Agricultural College. 
E. R. BENNETT. 
AN ORCHARD IN THE SHENANDOAH 
VALLEY. 
I have 4," acres in fruit (apple trees). The land is a 
little thin in places—has been worked hard. I think it 
needs lime, as I cannot get much of a clover stand. What 
is the best way to get clover crop on 10 acres of the above 
- - - — * V**1.*I ^ 1 ^ to*- 1 X. * u ft V. wop UU 1 VJ UV.IUJ5 U L lilt: UIJUVU 
prevailed. That some of the growers did succeed ]ot - ' vhicl1 "‘as in corn last year? It has been lying bare 
under those adverse conditions is an undisputed a11 Wintor ' Troes wel '° 1,iauk>d in Member, 1909. What 
fact for in . ., , is the best way to improve another 10 acres that was in 
tact, for in several instances the crop was saved v ,-hcat last year and planted to trees at same time 
TREATING A SMALL LOT OF 
POTATO SEED. 
On page 140 you ask for practical in¬ 
formation how to treat potatoes for scab. 
I have never had much trouble from 
scab, but as I would rather have potatoes 
that are perfect than those that are 
pretty good, two years ago and last year 
I used formaldehyde. I bought at the 
druggist’s a pint of 40 per cent, solution 
for 45 cents. I had two tubs that would 
hold about three-quarters bushel each, 
also a large washtub, and bushel box 
with handle holes in each end. I put 
one-half bushel of potatoes in tub No. 1 
and found that two gallons of water 
would cover them. I found by measuring 
down the side of the bottle that five-six¬ 
teenths of an inch would make them 
both equal in strength to the whole pint 
in 30 -gallons of water. After the pota¬ 
toes had been in the bath about V/2 
hour I set the box (which had a 
crack in the bottom) over the wash- 
tub and turned the potatoes into it, 
then made up another lot in the same 
tub. After the first lot was well 
drained I made up a lot in tub No. 2, 
using the same water in which the first 
were treated. I spread the potatoes on the barn floor 
a to dry and planted within a week. As the water 
to wasted I added enough to cover, putting in at the 
same time perhaps a spoonful of solution. The bath 
can be used over and over several times without ap¬ 
parent loss of strength. I kept the tubs covered with 
blankets to hold in the gas. This plan would not 
appeal to the grower who plants a hundred bushels, 
but as I only planted about five bushels it does for 
me. Sometimes the potatoes were in the bath three 
or four hours, and one lot was in all night. I could 
not see any difference in the coming up. When I dug 
them there was no scab. 
Connecticut. 
E. M. TYRREL. 
wll 
en 
. - . ( * •* *'**»*' J v* nr i » ^ <11 Hint’ <15 
neighboring orchards similarly situated had that above? What is the proper way to improve land 
’illw n 1 1 r .. or__ _1._1 , in ^ » __ 
practically a total loss of crop. in a 25 -acre orchard (apples), trees 40 x 40 , 10 years old? 
The cost of nreventinp- frost ininrv in this wov Th ? y have never bornc much o£ a cr °P> arc iu fair con- 
• 1 j , . 3 . ^ J - l til s way dition, and free from disease. This orchard has a thin 
u > o estimate. It is necessary to have not only crop of clover on it in the past two years, and now the 
the lequired number of pots on the ground when the trees are banded with horse stable manure. The trees 
frost comes, but sufficient fuel, either coal or oil. ditl n °t make more than three or four inches last year. 
Should I put lime on this? If so, when? Should 
* - -~ Oil tllv. 51 UUUU Wlltll Li IV 
frost comes, but sufficient fuel, either coal or oil, 
must be immediately available for use. Less help 
is necessary where the oil is used, as the oil is more 
easily and quickly fired, and if refilling is necessary 
Should I put lime on this? If so, when? Should I R. N.-Y.— The potato seems to have been “speared 1 
plow in Spring and sow again to clover or cow peas? by the grass variously known as crab, witch twitcl 
Yinnnin n -xc t.- _ 1 '-r'l , 1 . - ’ 
GRASS PIERCES POTATOES.—I enclose a 
small potato showing grass roots growing entirely 
through. 1 he crop was kept clean. Late in the season 
some coarse grass appeared along the rows. It had 
very white pointed roots. Pulling the tufts of grass 
would often draw out all the potatoes. I send small 
sample; hundreds of larger ones are same condition. 
Maryland. g. \y m’c. 
R. N.-Y.—The potato seems to have been “speared” 
Virginia. 
In a young 
B. XI. K 
orchard I would always plant some 
and wire. The stems have grown completely through 
the tuber. We have seen such specimens before. 
