U. S. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 429 



they have been unusually free from the depredatious of insects and fung- 

 ous diseases. 



Peaches have also been very abundant over nearly the whole of the 

 peach-growing regions. In Connecticut a late frost cut off almost the 

 entire crop when in bloom, and the same thing occurred in some portions 

 of North Carolina, Georgia, and Ohio and in the southern counties of the 

 Chesapeake peninsula, which has long been considered the most important 

 of all the peach-producing sections. Furthermore, in the northern 

 counties of this peninsula yellows made sad havoc late in the season, 

 when it was thought that a crop of over 8,000,000 bushels was secure. 

 The fruit ripened prematurely, and in many orchards where thousands of 

 bushels hung on the trees not a peach was gathered. From this district 

 less than 4,000,000 bushels were sent to market. In the famous peach 

 region of Michigan, especially in Berrien, Van Buren, Allegan, Oceana, 

 and Benzie counties, a large crop was gathered, and yellows did but 

 little damage, owing to the rigid enforcement of a wise state law that 

 requires the destruction by fire of all diseased peach trees as soon as dis- 

 covered. Where formerly this dread malady ran riot in Berrien county, 

 Mich., there is now rarely a sign of it, and the peach industry is again 

 becoming profitable. 



The pear crop was so large in some of the central states that there was 

 barely a market for the supply. In Massachusetts, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Missouri, and California the crop was heaviest. In the south, where 

 the Le Conte has proven so profitable, the " fire blight" has been making 

 infbads,and there is danger that this variety, which for a time was thought 

 to be exempt from the disease, may yet prove to be equally subject to it 

 with other kinds. 



The plum, both the native and the foreign, has also borne well. The 

 variety known as Wild Goose was in every market during the early part of 

 the season, and California soon flooded the east with the large foreign 

 varieties. Kelsey, the largest of the Japanese plums, was noticed on the 

 fruit stands, having been shipped from California and Florida. It may be 

 shipped with little damage, owing to its firm flesh. Specimens from Ocean 

 Springs, Miss., measured 3 inches in diameter. New York had the heav- 

 iest plum crop for many years. The states of Washington and Oregon 

 take the lead in the production of plums of large size and excellent flavor. 

 Specimens of 2, and even 3 inches in diameter are not uncommon in the 

 eastern parts of those states. 



Grapes have also been abundant; from Maine to Florida and from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific the crop has, with a few local exceptions, been 

 heavy. The valleys of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and the southern 

 parts of Texas and Florida are beginning to produce the same kinds that 

 are grown in California — Muscats, Tokays, etc. — and may be expected to 

 compete soon with that state. Western and central New York produced 

 immense quantities of such varieties as the Concord. Worden, Delaware, 

 Niagara, and Catawba. Northern Ohio sent to market a large crop of 

 Catawba, Delaware, and other kinds. Florida is becoming known as being 

 earliest in the giape market, and Texas, Georgia, and the Carolinas next. 

 There is now no gap in the grape market from June until spring, for the 

 later kinds are easily kept all winter in the cold-storage houses. Good 

 grapes have sold at retail in many of the large cities for less than 2 cents 

 per pound. 



The orange crop was not so large as was expected, owing to sharp frosts 



