FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 85 



disease. This trouble now called the "Yellows" was supposed to have 

 been imported from an eastern state and from the first year it became 

 known, has made severe inroads in many orchards. Because of the 

 mysteriousness of this disease it has been a continual menace to peach 

 growers in many sections of the state. Another one equally mysterious 

 has appeared in recent years, known as "Little Peach." The lack of 

 knowledge concerning the exact nature and workings of these diseases 

 and their behavior in the past has discouraged many former growers 

 from planting a new orchard. Spending several years in growing an 

 orchard and then seeing it destroyed by these diseases, is an experience 

 that is discouraging, and to be feared in the future. There are localities 

 in which these diseases have occurred and been checked and practically 

 eradicated, which indicates that under correct methods of peach orchard 

 management, they should not be considered as dangers too great to be 

 risked. There are other diseases and several insect pests that may be 

 found in many peach orchards, but they are comparatively easy to con- 

 trol and are hardly to be considered as risks. 



There is another risk with which every peach grower is acquainted 

 and that is the weather. A year never passes without more or less 

 anxiety being experienced by the owners of peach orchards over the 

 condition of the fruit buds, but some years it includes the life of the 

 trees. Of course, the risk varies with the location, site, and variety, but 

 there seems to be no place where one can feel sure of complete safety, 

 as the weather may do the unexpected. Such was the October freeze 

 of 1906 which extended over the southern part of the Michigan "Peach 

 Belt," making practically a clean sweep of all the orchards. But these 

 occurrences are rare. Doubtless, hundreds of growers are willing to 

 testify that the losses due to winter killing of buds and trees have not 

 been so serious or extensive but that the profits from the crops greatly ex- 

 ceed those of any other kind of farming which they might have entered. 

 Too great risks have been taken by planting orchards in unfavorable 

 locations and results have been disastrous. It is to be hoped that the 

 present and future grower may profit by the experiences of the past. 



Another thing which, by many, is considered a risk, is overproduction. 

 This was uppermost in many minds a decade or so ago, but the preval- 

 ence of diseases, variations in temperatures, and the combination of 

 conditions that tend to make the peach trees short lived, as managed by 

 many growers, have proven that overproduction is hardly to be expected. 

 The years are few in which conditions are such as to produce a full 

 crop of peaches in every section of the United States where they are 

 grown, and the man who is so located as to be reasonably sure of a 

 crop about every year, should be able fo withstand a low price when 

 these rare years do come. 



Still another risk to be thought of, and one that increases every year, 

 is that of labor. It means a great loss for a grower to produce a crop 

 and then to be unable to secure enough help for the harvest. The 

 scarcity of labor varies with regions and should be thought of when 

 selecting a section for growing any kind of fruit, but as the peach harvest 

 must be rushed, it is more imperative with this than most other fruits. 



