PEACH YELLOWS. 241 



ing to Harrison Hntchins, almost every farmer has a peach orchard, varying 

 in number of trees from a few hundred to 5,000 or even 10,000. 



Eespecting the eastern part of Allegan county, G. II. La Fleur states that 

 yellows has reduced the number of trees 50 per cent., although many are 

 planted each year. 



The state census of 1884 shows that peach growing is fairly prosperous in 

 Allegan county, the acreage there given being more than double that of any 

 other county, i. e., 8,367 acres, corresponding to about 900,000 trees. 



In remoter parts of Michigan peach yellows appeared at dates much later 

 than 18G9. Peaches have been grown in Ottawa and Kent counties for thirty 

 years or more. In 1884 Ottawa was credited with 984 acres, containing 84,225 

 bearing trees ; and Kent was credited with 3,363 acres, containing 161,065 bear- 

 ing trees. Nevertheless yellows did not appear in either county until within the 

 last eight or ten years. In the vicinity of Grand Rapids the disease did not 

 appear earlier than 18»3, although peaches have been grown since 1850 and 

 to a very considerable extent since 1875. Farther north, in the Grand 

 Traverse region, where peaches have been grown to a limited extent since 

 1865, it is said that the disease has not yet appeared. On the eastern side of 

 the State, it was not present at Plymouth, Wayne county, in 1873, and has 

 not been reported from Oakland county, where in 1884 were 1,093 acres^ 

 containing 44,320 bearing trees. 



In the vicinity of Ann Arbor, peach trees were planted as early as 1842, 

 and peach growing has been a considerable industry since 1875. In 1884 the 

 number of bearing trees in the city and township was 59,592 (446 acres), 

 and many have been planted since that date, yet the orchards have never 

 suffered from yellows. Indeed, I can not find that a single case has ever 

 appeared. I have myself examined many trees. 



In view of some inquiries to be made later, respecting climate as a cause of 

 peach yellows, it will be necessary to note briefly the conditions under which 

 peaches are grown in Michigan, particularly as these conditions vary some- 

 what from those found in the Chesapeake and Delaware region. As a whole 

 the climate of Michigan is too severe for the peach. Bitter experience has 

 shown that the excessive cold and the rapid temperature changes of some of 

 the Michigan winters are sufficient to kill entire orchards. So much depends, 

 however, upon location that no general rule can be laid down, other than 

 that in the interior and on the east side of the State the peach does not win- 

 ter well north of latitude 43°. South of this, in favored localities, the peach 

 has passed through the severest winters in safety. 



What is known as the " peach belt " is a narrow strip of sandy and loamy- 

 land in the extreme southwestern part of the State, bordering on Lake Michi- 

 gan. There peaches were first planted for commercial purposes; there their 

 cultivation had been most uniformly successful ; and there it still involves 

 the largest amount of capital. The reason for this, aside from proximity to 

 a great market, lies in the nearness to a large body of water. The prevailing- 

 winter and spring winds being from points between northwest and southwest 

 must pass over Lake Michigan on their way to the peach orchards, and during 

 this passage they lose much of their severity by contact with the warmer 

 water. In winter the temperature never fails as low along the lake as in the 

 interior or on the eastern side of the State, and the extremes of temperature 

 are neither so sudden nor so great. In the spring the lake water is cooler 

 than the air, and the winds which then blow over it lose some of their 



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