lin 4. 
FIGHTING FROST WITH FIRE. 
Part I. 
NEED OF IT.—We have had many questions 
about plans for fighting frost. In the West and 
South a good many fruit and vegetable growers 
have adopted the plan of providing .fixtures for 
artificially heating the orchard or garden when the 
mercury goes too low at blooming time. Some of 
these growers report great success with their ex¬ 
periments, and evidently Eastern fruit growers are 
disposed to try it. Some of them have already 
done so. Here, for example, is a note from A. T. 
Henry of Connecticut, and there are others who 
have tried very much the same thing. 
The article on orchard heaters is the most interesting 
I ever read. We have some of our own make, from 
powder cans, using excelsior, charcoal above, to start 
the coal burning. We have about 3,000. In an ex¬ 
perimental way we raised the temperature seven 
degrees one night; had them out in orchard last 
Spring, but temperature did not go low enough. 
Connecticut. a. t. iienry. 
It is very difficult to obtain actual facts from 
Eastern experience. All we can do is to make a 
fair statement of what Western men have done. 
Generally speaking, this plan of frost fighting has 
been most successful in protected places. For ex¬ 
ample, there may be a pocket of land, a rather low 
valley surrounded by higher ground. Naturally 
the cold air would roll into this pocket and increase 
the danger from frost. There would also be less 
danger that the wind would blow the heated air 
out. Thus many of the great successes in this 
method of preventing frost have been worked out 
in these low places, for there the heat from the 
fires and the smoke and smudge from the fuel are 
held around the trees. 
BEST SITUATION.—A situation, too, where a 
strong wind-break stands to ward off the wind, will 
greatly help in work of this kind, and a good many 
Western growers now consider this in their plant¬ 
ing, and make sure that wind-breaks are started so 
as to ward off the prevailing winds. A good many 
of our Eastern orchards, especially those of peaches, 
are purposely planted upon high hills, on the theory 
that these locations are less liable to frost, and 
that the wind and thorough air drainage will carry 
off many disease germs. Such locations are not 
well suited to frost fighting, for should there be a 
wind with (he cold air, it would be almost impos¬ 
sible to hold the heat and smoke around the trees. 
The usual plan is to start little fires all through 
the orchard. 
BURNERS USED.—In former years small piles 
of wood, brush or sawdust, or even soft coal, were 
used for this purpose. It has now been found bet¬ 
ter to use pots, or burners for this purpose. There 
are many types of these pots. In some cases ordi¬ 
nary kegs, used for carrying metal paint, are used, 
and they do excellent work when provided with 
covers. A picture of the form of pot which proves 
very successful with John Bland, of Missouri, is 
shown at Fig. 235. These pots have covers, and are 
known as the lard pail type. The cover may be 
raised more or less to increase or diminish the 
Hame from the fuel. In other cases larger rectan¬ 
gular pots are used, which are divided into two 
compartments, one holding the burning oil, and the 
other forming a reservoir to hold an extra supply 
of the oil. What is needed is a fire which gives 
off a large amount of smoke. This heavy cloud of 
smoke hanging over the orchard tends to prevent 
radiation of heat, and thus the heat from the fires 
will remain longer in a protected orchard. In form¬ 
er years this fact was recognized, by those who 
used slow smoking fires of wet straw. One of the 
earliest reports of experiment in California told of 
a man who drove slowly through his orchard, up 
and down the rows, with a large metal tank on 
wheels, this tank containing wet straw covered 
with damp manure, and a fire at the bottom which 
sent off great volumes of smoke and vapor. Any 
kind of a pail or keg that will hold the fuel, and 
can be regulated so as to make a slow and smoky 
lire, will answer. There may be cases where soft 
coal, or other material will make a cheaper fuel, 
but generally speaking a thick fuel oil has given 
best satisfaction. The oil heaters are quickly filled 
and easily lighted. The flame can be easily regu¬ 
lated. and the fuel supply easily kept up. The coal 
heaters are slow in starting, throw off very little 
heat at first, require more labor for filling and 
handling than the oil. and cannot easily be extin¬ 
guished except by dumping out the contents. 
EQUIPMENT.—The general method of handling 
these oil heaters is first to provide a reservoir, at 
some elevation near the orchard, and keep it filled 
with the oil. In most cases a pipe runs from this 
down to a level with the orchard. A tank on 
wheels is used to carry the oil. This tank is driven 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
under the pipe and filled from it. It is then driven 
through the orchard, the oil being taken out in 
pails and poured into the heaters all ready for use. 
In many cases these growers fill their heaters early 
in April, and keep them constantly filled until all 
danger from frost has passed. There are some 
seasons where it is not necessary to start the fires 
at all. In that case after danger has passed these 
oil heaters are emptied back into the tank and the 
POTS FOR FIGHTING FROST. Fig. 225. 
oil turned back into the reservoir. The rule is to 
place these heaters from 20 to 25 feet apart each 
way. The usual plan is to put them in rows be¬ 
tween the trees, rather than close to or under the 
trees. On the windward side of the orchard a row 
of the pots will be placed about 10 feet apart, and 
15 or 20 feet from the outside row. The heaters 
are placed in this way largely to make it easier for 
filling, lighting or extinguishing. 
GROWING CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES 
There are many ways to propagate these fruits. 
If new varieties are wanted seeds are used, which 
are washed from the ripe fruit and planted in the 
Fall, or stratified until ground is fit for planting in 
SHELTER FOR OFFICIAL THERMOMETER. 
Fig. 236. 
Spring. If one desires to propagate a certain va¬ 
riety it may be done by separation, layering or cut¬ 
tings. Many times these fruits will send up suck¬ 
ers, which if separated from the plant with some 
roots attached, make good plants. Layering is a 
very easy means of propagating. Cuttings are also 
easy to start, and though a large percentage may 
fail if carelessly handled, it will be the quickest 
way to increase the plants. The drawing, Fig. 237, 
shows a one-year-old shoot of gooseberry at A. 
This is the proper age to use for cuttings and 
layering, although the two-year-old shoot at I> may 
be layered, but would not be apt to give as good a 
plant as the one-year shoot A. The three-year-old 
shoot at (’ is not desirable for either fruiting or 
propagation, and should be removed to give the 
younger wood a better chance. D shows a one-year- 
587 
old shoot bent down and covered with earth. The 
tip is left uncovered, and usually a cut is made on 
the under side at the bend, as shown at F. This 
hastens root formation. The cut should not be 
made too deep. A small forked stick, as shown at 
G. is handy to hold in place the shoots that are too 
stiff to be held down by the soil placed over it. 
The layers should be laid down in the Fall or 
Spring, and left in place till the following Fall, 
when they may be removed to permanent quarters. 
Cuttings should be taken from the one-year shoots 
such as A. Wood for cuttings should be cut with 
knife or shears, as broken ends seldom heal as well. 
The cuttings should have from eight to 12 eyes or 
buds, and are best taken in the Fall, tied in bun¬ 
dles and buried with butts up till Spring. The cut¬ 
tings should be entirely covered, and in a well- 
drained place. The object in inverting the cuttings 
is to give the butts a chance to callus without start¬ 
ing growth in the tops. In the Spring the cuttings 
must be dug up as soon as the ground will permit, 
and are then ready to plant in rows about two or 
three inches apart in the row. Only two or three 
of the upper buds are exposed. The cuttings should 
be given clean culture. The plants should be re¬ 
moved to the permanent quarters the following Fall. 
If it is not convenient to take the cuttings in the 
Fall, they may be taken in the Spring and planted 
in the rows the same as the trenched cuttings were. 
The age of the parent plant will make little or no 
difference to the cuttings, provided these are strong 
one-year-old shoots. Great emphasis should be 
given to the fact that cuttings should be taken from 
the best plants. If the plant is weak, if poor in its 
habit of growth or subject to disease more than 
the others, it should be discarded so far as propaga¬ 
tion goes. R. B. G. 
A FARM FERTILITY PROBLEM. 
I am a beginner at farming and have a run-down 
farm that I wish to restore to a high state of culti¬ 
vation. I have carefully read and studied farm 
papers, also books, on the above subjects and should 
like some of the successful readers of The R. N.-Y. 
to give their idea as to which of the above methods 
would be best for a beginner. 
My means are limited and I must, therefore, pro¬ 
ceed carefully. I intend to make hay for market 
the main crop, potatoes next, chickens and small 
and large fruits, and raise whatever else can be con¬ 
sumed by the family. Stock, it seems, would be a 
long road to fertility of the soil, and the means of 
a good living. It would mean buying scrubs—as 
I could not afford purebred—and it seems absolutely 
foolish to buy scrubs when the cost of milk produc¬ 
tion by scrub stock, according to experiments in 
New England, is more than the receipts from same. 
Nearly all the farmers in my town have inferior 
stock and cut their hay, feed it, buy high-priced 
grain, have poor pastures that run out in hot 
weather, and sell their product at a loss, according 
to authorities. They have the labor of carting out 
manure, carting in hay. and keep carting in and 
out to keep such stock, and usually do a little team¬ 
ing for others on the outside, to enable them to 
scratch out a living. Some of their farms are for 
sale and others are giving up the cows to try other 
crops, while the rest plod on in the same old way. 
Having read that cows must give so many pounds 
of milk in order to pay a profit, and knowing that 
I cannot afford purebreds, and not wanting to start 
with “scrub boarders" and begin the long tedious 
job of grading up with a good sire, my idea is to 
try green manures, lime, and commercial fertilizers. 
Will green manuring, lime and fertilizers give 
the good results claimed for them in print? I am 
starting to build up a 1-% acre piece in this way. 
It is a sandy loam, with little gravel. A small 
crop of weeds was plowed under last October and 
the piece wheel-harrowed and sowed to rye, now a 
good thick stand. This Spring, when it is about 18 
inches high, it will be plowed under and the manure 
from two cows for six months wheel-harrowed in. 
I shall raise on one-half of this piece roots for hens 
and cows, sweet corn and vegetables, and an experi¬ 
mental one-quarter acre of potatoes—being careful 
not to put manure on potato plot. The other half 
I shall seed to buckwheat. Will the buckwheat be 
in bloom in time to plow under and seed the piece 
to clover, or would some legume make a catch after 
rye and manure as before mentioned? What I think, 
is that the quicker the land can be made to grow 
clover or other nitrogen gatherer, and the more 
they are plowed in. the sooner the land will be 
in shape to grow grasses and clover or Alfalfa, also 
other crops—with the addition of lime to sweeten 
the constant fermentation; and fertilizers high in 
phosphoric acid and potash. h. n. 
Massachusetts. 
