Mail Tribune 100, April 15, 1921

May 7—April 15, 1921

FROST SITUATION IS SUMMED UP BY LOCAL EXPERTS

The heaviest smudging of the season begun at an early hour today incidental to a heavy frost this morning, with the lowest official temperature in Medford at 26.6 degrees. This followed the frost of Thursday morning at 27.8 degrees, and the prediction is for a light to killing frost for Saturday morning.

All the orchards smudged this morning that could do so, and the heavy smudge smoke did not lift from the city until 8 a.m. The smudging began at 2 a.m., when the Bear Creek orchard first fired up. According to County Agent Cate and Frost Expert Young, the killing frost lasted from 4 to 7 a.m. The temperature was colder than 26.6 degrees in some parts of the valley, and at the Isaacs orchard in the Coker Butte district, reached 24. Late this afternoon Mr. Isaacs seemed to be in a cheerful frame of mind and said despite his being hit hard by the several recent frosts, he though he had 75 percent of his pear crop left.

The frost situation of the past two days was summed up by Messrs. Cate and Young this morning prior to their going out to visit some of the orchards with a view to getting a line on the damage done, especially to pears and apples.

"There is no question," said Mr. Cate, with Mr. Young acquiescing, "but that Thursday morning's frost did considerable damage in the orchards, and that this morning's frost, which was more severe resulted in more damage. The early pears are nearly all passing out of bloom and have reached the stage of development where they can not stand many more such severe frosts as we have had, without the crop being seriously impaired.

"The apples generally are just coming into bloom, and in our hurried investigation of late Thursday forenoon we found that some damage had been caused among those trees already out.

"The stone fruit trees' crop has been hard hit, such as peaches, cherries, apricots and the like, and it now seems that crops of that kind in the valley will be very meager.

"We cannot learn the exact extent of the general fruit damage for several days."

"This seems to be a bad frost year for fruit all over the country," said Floyd Young, the frost expert, breaking into the conversation, as note the reports of the frosts and freezes of the east, middlewest and California.

"I tell you there is no such thing as a frostless fruit section in the United States that I can learn of. California has been hard hit this spring by the frosts there, and the reports are that the state's lemon crop has been killed."

LOCAL AND PERSONAL

The Mail Tribune is in receipt of the following plea in behalf of homeless wanderers in the city: "Somebody please give work to these men that are going up and down our streets with a hungry stomach and a little roll of blankets on their backs.

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These are the days when the housewives get up very early in the morning and shut down all windows to keep the smudge smoke from entering and soiling curtains and furniture.

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Watch the new 1921 Cadillac cars how they seem to ooze along. The coupe, the touring car and the sport model may be seen on the streets of Medford every day. Size them up yourself.

— Alissa Corman; acorman@rosebudmedia.com