Smudging the Orchard to Keep Away Frost. Fig. 155 
A Kou of Cherry 'frees Atony a Country Roadside in Wayne Co., N. Y. 
This Fruit May Settle the 1 exed Question of Roadside Planting. Fig. 157 
Keeping Jack Frost Away From Fruit 
Methods Used in Oregon 
• . *■ * ,r ‘ 
W OOD FIRES.—Several million dollars’ worth 
of fruit is saved in the United States each 
year by building fires in the orchards and keeping 
Jack Frost away in the Spring, when there is danger 
of the delicate buds being injured by his cold tongue 
touching them. The accompanying illustration. Fig. 
I no. was taken in the orchard of W. H. Brown, in 
Rogue River Valley, Oregon, and shows how this com¬ 
mercial apple grower places fence rails between the 
rows of trees, and by setting every other pile afire, 
is able to generate sufficient heat waves to keep the 
frost out of the orchard. lie has saved liis crop for 
the past 10 years by using this method, aggregating 
$25,000 worth of apples in this time. 
Not only are the piles of wood 
placed between the inside rows of 
apple trees, but also along the out¬ 
side rows, that no cool breezes may 
be permitted to enter the orchard 
and do damage. In case the wood 
does not keep the temperature up 
to 2$ degrees, stacks of straw, of 
about one forkful each, are also 
fired, and since these make a quick, 
yet smudgy fire, they throw smoke 
over the tree limbs and keep the 
buds warm. 
OIL STOVES.—Many growers use 
the oil briquette, which is a small 
sheet iron or galvanized iron stove, 
in which oil is poured and set afire. 
This oil fuel also throws heat and 
a smudgy smoke, and is used not 
only in ordinary fruit orchards, but 
widely used also in the California 
and Florida orange and lemon 
groves, where it has saved several 
millions of dollars’ worth of these 
fruits. The fruit grower who uses 
these methods of keeping frost away 
from his trees is a sort of weather 
student. He makes it his business 
to know when there is apt to he a 
frost, that he may have his wood or 
oil ready to fire. He reads the 
weather reports and uses the United 
States Weather Bureau map. The 
Weather Bureau office at Portland. 
Oregon, telegraphs the Medford 
Commericial Club, located in the 
heart of the Rogue River Valley 
fruit section. A flag is hoisted, 
which shows whether there is apt to 
be a frost or not. 
FORETELLING FROST.— Then 
there are instruments which aid*tlie 
fruit grower in foreseeing a coming 
frost. One of these is the psych ro-' 
meter, an instrument for measuring 
the quantity of water vapor in the 
atmosphere, this vapor determining 
to a very great extent whether or 
imt frost may be expected. This in¬ 
strument may be made by anyone 
who is handy, by taking two ther¬ 
mometers. one bulb being covered 
with a piece of thin muslin cloth 
and the other left exposed. The 
covered bulb is wet and the instru¬ 
ment whirled rapidly so as to pro¬ 
duce evaporation from the wet bulb. 
The temperature of the two bulbs 
are read when the wet bulb has 
reached its lowest point and the difference between 
the two readings taken. These readings are then 
referred to the tables published by the weather 
bureau, showing the dew-point, that is, the tempera¬ 
ture at which dew or frost will form. There is a 
close relation between the dew-point of the evening 
and the minimum temperature of the night. For 
instance, if at 9:10 1’. M. the dew-point records 21 
degrees, while the sky is partly clouded, it will he 
well to watch, and if the clouds clear away before 
11 P. M.. there is almost certain to be a frost the 
following morning. 
INSTRUMENTS USED.—There is then. also, the 
aneroid barometer. This instrument indicates the 
air pressure and the highs and lows, which may be 
seen marked on the weather maps. During a period 
of high pressure there are chances of frosts, while 
during low pressure, which means that there is a 
considerable quantity of water vapor in the atmos¬ 
phere, frosts are not so likely to appear. Then there 
is the automatic thermometer, which, upon register¬ 
ing at a certain point, automatically rings an electric 
Tbt RURAL NEW-YORKER 
call bell. The instrument is hung in the lowest spot 
in the orchard, wires being connected to the fruit 
grower's house. This acts as an automatic alarm 
clock in awakening him in time to set the orchard 
fires and keep Jack Frost away. earle w. gage. 
The First Farm Institutes in N. Y. State 
I N the present discussion upon farmers’ institutes 
it may not be without interest to give a few facts 
in relation to the early work. After a period of in¬ 
stitutes being held under the auspices of the New 
York State Agricultural Society, it was determined 
to make the work of a permanent character in the 
State, when I was asked by the board in 1890 to 
accept the position of director and reorganize the 
work. In my connection with the work for the prior 
two years or more I observed that the institutes 
were held mostly in cities where the most progressive 
farmers attended, but that the farmers out in the 
country districts, those most in need of the work, 
were not reached. The plan was inaugurated of 
holding one-day institutes, often in a church, in a 
farming community, farmers and their families com¬ 
ing for the day. bringing their lunch baskets. But 
one extra speaker went to these one-day institutes, 
where considerable demonstrating work was done. 
In some instances cream was brought to the insti¬ 
tute and churned and the butter made, with instruc¬ 
tion given on the most essential points. Farmers’ 
wives were much interested in this line of work. 
In the Autumn apples were brought to some of 
these country churches, emptied along the aisles, 
where those in attendance could see from the pews 
how apples should be graded, the A grade taken out 
first and packed in barrels, and the B grade next. 
Cows were brought to some institutes, where they 
were.judged and the best points shown to the farmers. 
591 
Horse breeding institutes were introduced, the first, 
as a trial near my own farm at Chatham, where the 
stallions kept in Columbia County were to be brought 
Avith their gets, up to three years of age. Although 
a blizzard hit the date, early in March, the best, 
horses in the county and farmers came through snow 
drifts, and the discussion on horse breeding was 
held in an open shed, the horse block being used to 
illustrate the subject. Another liorse-hreeding insti¬ 
tute was appointed later in the same month at Wal¬ 
den, Orange County, where the stallions, mares, colts 
and the finest matched teams and single horses 
marched in the parade one and one-eighth miles. It 
was estimated that between .3.000 and 4.000 people 
were present. Buyers from New York came to the 
institute, and a number of the best horses were 
sold to them during the day. 
Another feature which was con¬ 
sidered important to the farming in¬ 
terests of the State was that of 
rural education. In holding insti¬ 
tutes in smaller towns where there 
were high schools the board of edu¬ 
cation. teachers and children of the 
different gimd^s Avere invited to 
come to tlie closing session, when 
the teaching of nature subjects was 
presented, and this also was done 
along the line of demonstration, as 
in the proper pruning of a tree or 
plant, in the exhibition of some of 
the injurious insects of the orchard 
and gardens and of spray pumps in 
operation for their control. So far 
as this educational feature went, it 
proved to be one of the most popular 
among not only farmers but well- 
educated authorities. 
The very rapid growth of the 
Farm Bureau work is steadily 
superseding farmers’ institutes for 
the reason that the Farm Bureau 
representative reaches into every 
town in the county. Demonstration 
work has been recognized as of 
greater value than so much of dis¬ 
cussion. In a neighborhood afflicted 
by the oat smut a demonstration of 
treated seed and labor of the thrash¬ 
ing of the crop free and clean from 
disease is more convincing than 
hours of discussion over and over 
again upon the subject. The gen¬ 
eral range of knowledge among 
farmers is much higher at the pre¬ 
sent time and real teachers to meet 
their needs are increasingly difficult 
to obtain. george t. powell. 
Columbia Co., N. Y’. 
Renting a Young Orchard 
M hat kind of terms do you think 
would be fair for both owner and care¬ 
taker of an apple orchard, mixed 
varieties, seven years old? The person 
taking care of orchard would do all 
labor and furnish all tools and spray 
material, taking for pay a stated pro¬ 
portion of the apples at the orchard 
for a term of five years, probably, with 
a privilege of releasing at expiration 
of first five years. There is consider¬ 
able leasing of old orchards around 
here, some on shares and some for 
cash rent. On shares the renter gets 
two-thirds of crop on terms stipulated 
above. None of us have, though, taken 
such a young orchard as above and it 
is something of a puzzle. You, likely, 
know of some such leases. n. b 
Clyde, O. 
\AJE have no reports of just such a lease of a 
Joung orchard. It would depend on the size 
of the orchard, the varieties, the kind of soil and the 
location. A large orchard would warrant the use of 
a good outfit of machinery, while a smaller one could 
not be handled so well. The varieties would make a 
difference. In our own orchard some varieties would 
begin to give you paying crops at. seven years, while 
others would hardly be paying at 12 years. The 
kind of soil and the way it shapes up would count, 
because in such a young orchard some crops would 
have to he grown between in order to get any in¬ 
come, and the location would decide what these 
crops should be. From our own experience we would 
not contract five years for such an orchard for less 
than 75 per cent of the crop. At first thought this 
may seem too large a share, but in such a contract 
the owner of the trees has all the advantage. It 
might even pay him to give a careful man the entire 
crop for five years. The cultivation and care would 
leave the orchard in good business condition at the 
end ot that time. 
