PEACHES IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 



I. GENERAL REMARKS. 



BOUT 9,000 acres are devoted to commercial 

 ^ peach orchards in western New York, — that 

 region Irom Cayuga and Tompkins counties 

 westward. There are small peach orchards 

 scattered throughout the greater part of this 

 area, except in the southern tier of counties, but 

 the major part of the peach industry is com- 

 prised in the Niagara-Ontario district, begin- 

 ning at lycwiston just north of Niagara Falls, and running eastward 

 along the Ontario slope nearly to Rochester. This district lies in 

 the counties of Niagara and Orleans. There are about 5,000 acres 

 of peach orchard in Niagara county and about 1,000 in Orleans. 

 These orchards, for the most part, lie to the north of the Ridge, 

 which is a natural elevation or embankment lying from five to 

 eight miles back from the lake. The second largest peach district 

 in western New York lies about Seneca Lake. Here there are 

 about 1,000 acres of peach orchards. There are about 400 acres 

 in Livingston county, mostly on the gravelly hills about Mt. 

 Morris ; and at this place is the largest peach orchard which I 

 know in the state, that of John F. White, comprising 200 acres. 

 On Keuka Lake there are about 300 acres of peaches, and on 

 Cayuga something less than 200 acres. 



After having made a careful study of the horticulture of New 

 York state, I am convinced that the peach industry suffers 

 more from careless and unscientific methods than any other 

 pomological interest. The greatest fault lies in the cultivation, 

 or, I might have said, in the lack of cultivation. The .second 

 fault is inattention to borers and yellows ; the third is neglect to 



