50 ■ STATE HORTICIJLTI'RAL SOCIETY. 



In considering the future of the peach industrj^ in Michigan we must 

 remember that many of the best orchard sites have grown two or three 

 orchards and the soil has been depleted of much of its natural fertility. 

 A careful system of soil renewal must be taken into consideration before 

 replanting man}' locations to peaches. The same is true of many of 

 the peach growing sections adjacent to Michigan. 



In 1906 the peach orchards of Michigan were again almost entirely 

 frozen out. This resulted in many new orchards being planted to apples, 

 using peaches as fillers. Today most of these trees are gone, and it 

 will be only a year or so until they are all gone. Since the winter of 

 1917-18 there has been verj few new orchards planted to peaches. Every 

 section east of the Mississippi is situated the same way with the excep- 

 tion of the Georgia and New Jersey sections. These sections cannot 

 be considered as competitors to Michigan because Georgia peaches come 

 onto the market long before Michigan peaches, and New Jersey peaches 

 are all marketed in nearby cities. These two sections are the only 

 ones that will increase in production in the next few years — all the rest 

 will decrease. 



You will find that those growers who are planting peach orchards 

 today are those that are more far sighted, and businesslike men. I 

 firmly believe that now is the time to plant peaches, because of the 

 decline in the number of trees and the lack of planting of new orchards. 

 There is also a disinterest in the peach business due to several reasons. 

 The peach orchards that are out now are getting pretty old, and they 

 will soon be gone. When the other fellow gets out it is usually a good 

 time to get in. The man who gets into the peach business now I believe 

 will be the man who will make good at it. 



There are several reasons wh}^ peaches have not been planted in the 

 last few years. 



1. Scarcit.y of trees and consequent high prices. Trees have been 

 selling from 40c to 60c each. At the present time they are getting 

 back to normal, and it will be easier for a grower to get an orchard started. 



2. High price of labor and uncertainty of harvest help. If a grower 

 had a crop it was uncertain whether he could get help to harvest it, 

 and if he did it came very high. 



3. Many of the best orchard sites have been planted several times 

 to peaches or are now occupied by apple orchards, so that some of the 

 best orchard sites are not available at the present time. 



4. Many of the growers have hesitated about going into the busi- 

 ness on account of its uncertainty as shown by the prices of the last 

 few years. 



5. At present grapes are being giown in the same sections and the 

 growers attention is being attracted to them because of the compara- 

 tive certainty of crop and the recent high prices. 



For these reasons peach plantings have been very scattering the past 

 few seasons. We can expect to pass thru several generations of peach 

 trees before similar conditions return. 



At the present time I think that the conditions are favorable for re- 

 planting of peach orchards, paying particular attention to selecting 

 would be unwise to plant indiscriniinatcl}' on sites that are just fair 

 or even poor. Peach orchards should be planted on good sites or they 

 should not be planted at all. 



