THE 8EMI-WEEKLY TfllBUNE, NORTH PLATTE. NEBRASKA
SAVING FBUTP f feOM FROST
EUROPE'S JOLLIEST KING
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How up-to-date orch
ardists protect their
crops and laugh at
the ghost of bank
ruptcy by using
smudge pots to drive
away killing cold dur
ing the blossoming
Tho Jolllcst king In nil Europo is
Christian X of Denmark. lie la fnr
removed from the Hamlet Immorta
lized by Shukcspcnre. Hamlet was a
morose sort of person who lost him
self lr philosophy. Christian, with tho
lungs of n giant, can bawl out a music
hall ditty with nil tho lustiness of a
Copenhagen stevedore.
Christian can pull an oar, swing
a racket, Jump a hurdle, sail a boat,
ride a horse, empty a bottle, and make
a speech. He is tho most popular man
In Denmark.
The king Is a giant In stature. There
Is a Joke In Copenhagen, first cracked
by a Jovial Dane, that when tho king
gets cold feet in December, ho doesn't
begin to sneeze till May.
In his youth, the present king of
Denmark spent some titno in u Jutland
garrison, nnd made himself extremely
popular with the civil and military
functionaries by his politeness to their
wives nnd his friendliness to their sons and daughters. He was as he still
is a fine dancer, and many stories are still current in Jutland of the demo
cratic manner In which he tripped the light fnntastlc with pretty peasant
girls on Midsummer's eve. He is a little more sedate, now that he Is king,
but the Jutlnnders keep for him a very warm plnco In their hearts. They
showed it when he became engaged. Anxious to have him amongst them
again, they paid him a pretty compliment by building for him nnd his bride
nnd presenting to him ns a wedding present, the castle of Marsellsborg.
period
TINKHAM'S SIGNATURE
By Robert H. Moulton
ITHIN the lust two yeayra an
other and a greater triumph of
scientific horticulture has arrived;
another natural enemy of the
things that grow and bring forth
fruit bus been vanquished. Jnck
Frost, long king of tho fruit crop,
linn lipitn ilntlirnnpfl. Pnilt crnwors
JjU Xj huvo literally built millions of fires
unucr mm, aim uurncu nun oui.
Sciontlflc orchard heating has
made it possible to raise the
temperature of n 200-ncro orchard ten to fif
teen degrees with ns much certainty as tho
Janitor can heat tho city man's flat. It takes some
what moro labor than tho lust mentioned process,'
but the satisfaction and tho profits of "heating all
outdoors" are surpassingly greater. Frost Insur
ance for tho fruit crop Is now Just ns practicable,
just as certain, and vastly more profltnblo for the
money expended than either flro or llfo Insurance
Insurance by flro for tho fruit grower makes
(Yn8tly greater profits at a much smaller expense
ifckan insuranco ngainst flro does for tho merchant
or manufacturer. Tho llttlo outdoor' oil stoves and
jcoal furnaces that have been sold by tho millions to
orchard owners in tho last yea? nnd a half have
banished from tho fruit grower that annunl enrly
spring nervous prostration from fear of frost j that
periodic, paralyzing fear that ho mny go to bed at
night and awaken to find his whole year's labor
chilled to death by a sudden frost. Tho cumulative
despair of losing tljroo or four fruit crops In suc
cession thnt has put fruit growers out of business
mid mado them dependent on charity or day labor
Is past. An orchard with u reasonably Industrious
and provident owner can bo mado to yield an avor
ngo crop every season so far us tho frost Is con
qorncd. Sciontlflc frost fighting with Hro is as
much n fact ns seed testing, Irrigation, fertilizing,
spraying or pruning. It Is tho last and greatest
ndvanco'Jn systematic horticulture, nnd 1ms placed
tho fruit grower abreast of tho sciontlflc furmer.
Slnco tho beginning of commercial horticulture,
tho fruit grower lias been at the mercy of tho ele
ments. Ho mado all his calculations, nil his plans,
all his business arrangements contingent on the
hope that tho frost would miss him. And beforo
the development of orchard heating tho chances
against him wcra getting worse In tho frost belt.
In tho modern, commercial orchard, tho land, na
chlnery, labor, spraying equipment nnd cultivation
total as heavy an investment as many manufactur
ing enterprises. And when two or three crops In
succession wero wiped out by frost, tho average
grower was completely bankrupt
Smudging, or 'tho formation of a denso blanket
of smoke over tho orchard, hud been practiced with
varying degrees of success In some purts of Europe.
Orchard heating proper was first used in Califor
nia, and tho original California smudgo "pot Is still
successfully employed In many orchards. In tho
gprlng of 1010 sovernl growers In tho Grand valley
of Colorado experimented with thu burning of oil
In simple potH of tlm "lord pull" typo, with tho
result that they saved their entlru crop on tho hent
ttd areas and lost It on tho unhealed tracts. Tho
spring of 1011 saw tho adoption of tho smudgo pots
qn every fruit section of tho stnto, nnd they
reached, tho experimental stage In sovernl other
tates. In tho spring of 1012 there- was not a fruit
growing Btato without thorn, and many Bectlons
of sovernl states wero as fully equipped us Colo
' rado.
Frost fighting Is not an easy Job. It Is neces
sary to have u forco of moo, Industrious und care
ful and observing to tho InBt degree. And It Is no
plensunt task to rush out Into tho still, cold dark
ness to drudgo tho hotter purt of tho night to snvo
your own or your neighbor's orchard. In tho early
days of orchard hcatlug, n man was detailed to
watch tho tested thermometers that wero hung lu
WllTorcnt parts of tho orchurd and nt tho farm
(house somo distance- awny from tho fruit troos.
ht tho temperature was not sinking fast, perhaps
tho rancher went to bed for a brief nap, sotting his
tolarm clock to wako him at intervals through tho
might. Nowadays ho can go to bed with a fooling
f security, leaving tho frost alarm thermometer
jto watch for him. This electric watchman has for
Its louHlncss end in tho orchard a spccJnlly mado
thermometer, with a flno platinum wlro fused Into
Itho mercury at tho freezing point or at whatever
la considered tho danger point Ab soou as tho
Juercury sinks below this wlro, tho circuit Is broken
and tao ulurm ut tho head of tho orchard boss'
jHid rings out Us warning. Any Interruption of
kho current causes tho bell to rlug so that If o
(apparatus should bo put out of order It automat
ically tells on Itself.
But tho orelmrdlHt Is usually forewarned, oyon
Wore ho goes to bed, nnd makes ready for Uio
fcray Late In tho afternoon ho notices great fleecy
77- omr? stsvf&s or
clouds hurrying from tho northwest, chased by a
bitter wind which seems to hnvo been Intended
for January, rather than this April night. He goes
to tho post olllco for 'tho day's mall und In every
window sees tho warning of tho diligent local gov
ernment weather forecast : "Freezing temperature
tonight." By seven o'clock tho government ther
mometer Is nt 117 and falling fast. As 7:30 o'clock
ho telephones tho weather man nnd gets tho reply :
"Bitter cold all over tho country ; temperuturo, Is
already down to thirty-seven In many parts of tho
valley and will drop to twenty degrees on tho
western slope of Colorado tonight.", By eight
o'clock It has fallen to 82, his alarm begins to ring
and ho knows that King Frost with his lcy-flngorcd
warriors Is inarching on tho camp. Steam whistles
are beginning to shriek all through tho yalloy to
warn tho growers of tho all-night Blego. Farm
wngons laden With coal and oil rnttlo past, giving
evidence that tho laggards who havo been hoping
to tho last, nro beginning to get their heating ma
chinery Into action. Already the early ones aro
firing heavily. Clouds of smoke hang low over the
trees, and tho little spots of fire beneath punctuato
the blackness with rays of hope.
Tho orchard firemen dash for tho trees, a torch
In ono hand, and a gasoline can to aid In quick
lighting In tho other. Dashing n few drops of gaso
line on the oil, they apply tho torch, and tho blazo
1b at work. Tho lighting is douo as fast as tho
men can walk through tho orchard, leaving u trull
of smoke and fire behind them. In fifteen min
utes each man has his tract of orchard transformed
Into n sea of flame under a cloud of smoke.
Then comes tho first period of rest. Tho men
gather In tho packing house or barn, for lunch or
smoke, making occasional trips to tho thermome
ters to see thnt the fire Is doing Its work. By 0 :80
o'clock tho thermometers outsldo the orchurd reg
ister 28, and thoso In tho urea of hent show a com
fortablo 117. Then tho frost fighters know thnt tho
battle Is half won, for keeping up tho temperature
Is a good dcul carter than raising It when It has
onco reached tho limit. The rest Is n mutter of
vigilance. t tho heater Is of thu regulated typo,
with enough fuel to bum through tho night or
longer, a fow men aro left to watch and open
tho burners wider If a later sudden fall of tempera
ture shows that moro lira Is needed. If tho heaters
' aro of the uniform single-burner type, they may
need to bo f elllled when they uro nearly burned out,
It thu frost battalion should como buck for unothcr
charge. Tho outsldo thermometers drop to 2-1, and
thoso In tho orchard stand ut 80, tho danger mark
of tho orchard froHt lighter. Tho heaters are
opened wider, or refilled If burning low, and tho
mercury shoots up to 113. Tho eight degrees of
frost has been driven away, and If tho oil supply Is
plentiful, und tho labor unflagging, the orchurdtst
tuny now consider tho liuttlo won. When tho sun
has Bhed Ins. rays over tho trees long enough to
inako tho outsldo temperature moro nearly that of
tho orchard, tho heaters aro shut off by merely
putting on tho covers.
Heating In the spring of 1011 was much easier
than that of tho year beforo, uud proved moro con
clusively than over tho effectiveness of tho tiros.
TIiq crop lu tho Colorado fruit area for 1DU aver
aged ubout 55 per cent. Tho unhealed orchards
yielded frc-m 20 to 75 per cent of a crop, while the
yield of Uio protected orchards was from 05 to 100
per cent, so heavy that thinning wns necessary In
many of then).
Individual testimony to tho efllclency of orchnrd"
heating In every fruit growing state could be multi
plied Indefinitely. Fruit crops vnlued nt $250 to
$750 an acre were frequently saved at n c6st of
seven to ten dollars an ncrc. One Colorado grow
er, for instance, with 50 heaters to tho aero raised
the temperature of his 40-ucre orchard from 18 to
28 degrees and produced 41 carloads of apples.
Ono of tho most remarkable stories of heater suc
cess comes from Missouri. A 240-ucre orchard lo
cated In a deep valley had suffered severely from
frost every year nnd had not produced n full crop
for 14 years. Against tho advice of all wise-ncres,
two brothers from Kansas City bought it, and
equipped It with 5,000 heaters of the controlled
or graduated type. With 85 or 40 pots to tho acre,
tho firing was done for four nights nt the tlmo the
apples were In bloom. They harvested a crop of
15,000 borrcls. vnlued at $45,000, and it was tho
only crop lu thnt fruit-growing territory. The net
profit on each acre approximated $200.
Thq first cost of installing nn oil-hcntlng plant
Is higher than for a coal or wood outfit, but the
results In tlmo saved nnd efficiency gained hnvo
mado It tho most popular fuel. Oil can bo ob
tained In qunntlty at prices ranging from four to
seven cents a gallon, nnd It mnkes a quick, strong
nnd easily controlled heat. One man can enro for
from three to live acres of orchnrd for four or five
hours and this Is about as long ns It will bo neces
sary to burn under ordinary frost conditions. Tho
prices of the oil henters rnngo from twelve cents
for a Bimplo "lard-pnll" tyno to 45 cents for one
of tho controlled flre-nren type, holding there gal
lons and burning nt full copaclty for ten or twelve
hours, or oven longer If regulated for n smaller
blaze.
George Holden Tinkhnm is a
bachelor congressman from Boston,
noted for having tho most horrible
signature in congress.
When he signs his name It sug
gests the signature of a careless hen
dashed off hastily In a radish bed.
Only once In his llfo has TJnkham
written his name In a way that made
It even hnlf legible. That was when
he prepared n sample signature, for
the purpose of having a facsimile
mndo to go on his official envelope.
Tinkhnm worked for more than an
hour on that. And when ho got
through It was no more Hko his regu
lar handwriting than if he had hired
a stranger to do It for him.
Aside from his chlrogrnphy, Tink
hnm seems to be all right There are
persons who claim to be able to read
character from handwriting. Such a
person would put Tinkhnm down for a
dissipated yeggman. But he would do
the man a grave injustice. Tho reason TInkham writes the way he does is
because ho is eager to get at something else. He is a brisk chap ; always in
a hurry. Nothing distresses him so much as a slow train, or, In fact, any slow
means of transportation.
Tlnkhnm's habit of doing tilings at high speed includes getting dressed
in tho morning. He dresses In such haste that he never knows Just what he
has on until hours later. As a rule, though, his sartorial layout includes a
red necktie. He will wear a red necktie every day for two or three months
nnd then suddenly he will appear In one that Is bright green simply because
he found tho green ono first
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WILL DRIFT TOWARD POLE
Capt. Robert A. Burtlett compan
ion of Peary on tho trip when tho lat
ter, with n negro, renched the North
pole, announced ho has pledges, of
885,000 for a new project In tho arc
tic regions. He proposes to let a ship
be frozen up In tho arctic region and
then drift toward the polo across a
part of the earth never beforo explored.
"I desire to superintend the con
struction of a wooden vessel of about
850 tons, especially for arctic work,"
ho said. "Wo would start in May, 1018,
northward through Bering strait; go
eastward off the northern const of
Alaska to about 130 west longitude,
and latitude 74 or 75, or even farther
north; let tho vessel freezo up and
go with the ice drift through the great
unexplored arctic regions. There aro
moro thnn 1,000,000 square miles of
unexplored territory In tho Arctic
ocean. I would take only cignt men
MONKEY FLESH HI8 ONLY MEAT.
Too proud to beg, and finding himself on the
vergo of starvation because of tho Impoverishment
of his noblo family In Europo, Count Franz Lazur
lnnl, u rcmlttanco man well known In Central
America, went to n Junglo near Managua, Nicara
gua, and kept himself nllvo for five months by eat
ing monkey flesh und roots nnd berries, according
to reports to marine corps headquarters there.
A party of United States marines whllo on a
big gamo hunting expedition discovered tho titled
foreigner nnd took him back to the Nlcaraguan
capital.
Tho count, half starved and ncuriy mad be
cause of tho privation ho bad Buffered, fought his
rescuers and begged them 'to lot him remuln lu tho
Jungle, tho reports stiy. Tho marines overpowered
him, however, nnd nre now attempting to nurse him
buck to health and reason at their commodious bar
racks In tho American legation.
with me on tho trip, preferably young college men. While wo drifted wo
would tnko soundings nnd uso a deep-sen dredge to gather tho flora and fauna
from tho floor of the ocean. Instead of regular steam engines nnd boilers,
requiring the consumption of coal, I will Install a Bo..lnger crude-oil engine,
thus doing away with tho necessity of engineers and firemen.
"From my knowledge of the arctic regions and the .currents of general
drift of tho Ice, I shoujd say that we would drift for about five years beforo
reaching civilization again, but we might do It in three years. I would provl
slon tho ship for Ave or six years, nnd that would bo easy with only nine men
to provldo for. The general drift would bo to tho west, and I should say that
wo would eventually como out either between Greenland nnd Spltzbergen, or
between Spltzbergen nnd Franz Josef Land."
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WOMAN HIGHLY HONORED
Tree Stump as Lamp-Post.
In n Pasadena, Cnl., front yard thcro stands nn
old sycumoro stump ubout ten feet high. Near
tho top arc tho stubs of two branches. Tho
owner of tho property lately conceived tho Idea of
using tho stump for n lamp-post, and in tho top
ut "tho end of each branch ho has placed electric
light bulbs, connected with tho powerhouso lu tho
usual way, Tho result has been ptcturcsquo In
the extreme, especially on a very dark night
Life's Little Worries.
Llfo Is n tender thing nnd is euslly molested.
Thcro Is always something thnt goes nmlss. Vain
vexatious vain sometimes, but always vexations.
The smallest und slightest Impediments nro tho
most piercing; nnd ns llttlo letters most tiro the
eyes, so do llttlo ntfalrs most disturb us. Mon
taigne.
Catherine Wnugh McCulloch of
Evanston, 111., who Is ono of tho presi
dential electors on tho Democratic
ticket In Illinois, Is. the first woman
so recognized In tho history of cither
of tho historic parties.
Sho Is a lawyer by profession, nnd,
was educated at Itockford college and
nt the Northwestern University Law
school. Admitted to the Illinois bar in
1880, and to the Supremo court of tho
United States In 1898, she has steadily
won for herself a high reputation for
ability and character. For many years
sho was In chargo of tho legislative
work of tho equal suffragists of tho
Btato, and legal adviser of tho national
organization.
Years ago sho became a Justlco of
tho peace, and exercised tho functions
of n Judge. She Is much Interested In
religious and philanthropic activities,
and writes freely and powerfully.
Mrs. McCulloch, while gratified by
Uio honor bestowed on her, accepts It, not lu a personal senso but no a rec
ognition of the new importance gained by women in American politics.
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