208 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



THE LESSON OF 189G IN PEACH CULTURE. 



BY MR. W. A. SMITH OF BENTON HARBOR. 



To live and learn are among the most important considerations of 

 liumauity. Surely no one, \\hatever liis occupation may be, has greater 

 need of exercise in this direction than the horticulturist. New fruits are 

 continually being brought to our notice and proclaimed as of superior 

 quality, and many of the old varieties a long time in cultivation are no 

 longer desirable, either for home use or for market purposes. Our experi- 

 ence of '96 in peach culture is most conclusive evidence that what is 

 known as the early semi-clingstone fruit is no longer valuable fruit 

 to grow for market. In fact, those peaches never have been such. 

 Cultivation of the peach is now so widely distributed over so large 

 an expanse of country, and through so many zones of latitude, and the 

 transportation facilities so rapid and perfect, that it matters little 

 where the business is located, the markets are relatively near at hand; and 

 when our Michigan early clingstone fruit gets upon the market, it comes 

 into competition, with a better class of fruit from a more southern latitude, 

 and has for many years been condemned, and has had to be sold at a 

 sacrifice. Occasionally, as in '95, when the southern crop was partially cut 

 off, these peaches sell more readily than common, but this was a rare 

 .instance. In former years, Hale's Early was our first peach to ripen, and 

 this is still among our best early peaches, though not so early as some 

 other varieties. Whether from climatic causes or from the virgin con- 

 ditions of the soil in which it was grown, or from the depredation of insect 

 enemies, this variety was subject to rot on the tree, even before maturity, 

 and was known and quoted in the Chicago market as Hale's rot. The 

 lesson of '96 was very conclusive on this point, viz.: that in the long run 

 we can not afford to grow that kind of fruit for commercial purposes. 



The year '96 will long be remembered as one of the most prolific fruit 

 seasons in the history of this country. The pear, among large fruits, alone 

 was lacking. Still, there are those who claim that there was no over- 

 production, and never can be, but it was all owing to under-consumption. 

 The same may be said today in relation to potatoes, that are sold on the 

 market for six, eight, and ten cents per bushel, and yet we know that 

 every family in the land is revelling in the potato-dish two or three times 

 per day; and notwithstanding the low price and glut of our western potato 

 market, the people in New York and other eastern markets are feasting 

 on tubers grown on the mucky lands of Ireland and Scotland. In the case 

 of the peach, perhaps the inability to purchase has more to do in the mat- 

 ter of glut than the capacity to consume. I think that before the record 

 •of '97 is made up, people will discover that it will require a larger dollar to 

 buy a bushel of peaches than it did in ^96. 



One of the most important lessons of '96, to the peach-grower, was the 

 necessity for a wider and more systematic mode of distribution. Michigan 

 ■peaches in '96 were distributed over a much larger area than ever before. 

 ■Refrigerating cars will cswrv our fruit successfully anywhere between 



