256 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



first season peaches enough over and above all expenses of picking and market- 

 ing to entirely pay for the farm. 



Mr. Parry's conchision is that "so far as peach growing on a large scale is 

 concerned, the net profits may very safely be set down at from $ilUO to 1175 

 per acre, while in many instances they yield right through from §175 to §250 

 per acre." If gross profits be substituted for "net protits," this conclusion 

 does not differ materially from my own. It relates, of course, to bearing years. 



Michigan peach orchards are not less profitable than those of the Atlantic 

 coast. 



About 1868, in a letter to D. A. Winslow, George Parmelee stated that in 

 1865, on his Berrien county farm, "forty-five early Crawford trees produced 

 a few baskets over 1,100 [peck (?) baskets] and sold for $2 per basket, amout- 

 ing to §2,200. The trees were twenty feet apart each way, which puts 109 

 trees on an acre, and makes the yield at the rate of §5,848 to the acre. This, 

 of course, is given as an extreme result, but if any man thinks that peach 

 growing in this region is not profitable, let him call on our fruit growers and 

 get facts." 



In 1805 or 1866, S. F. Heath, of Heath's Corners, Berrien county, Mich., 

 purchased 5 acres of bearing peach orchard for $1,350. His first crop sold 

 for §1,800. He sold then 5 acres to William Gates for §7,000. Mr. Gates sold 

 his first crop for §2,000 and his next one, 1868, for §4,000, and had "good 

 prospects fpr a greater crop the following year." 



In 1874. after corresponclence with one liundred of the largest peach-grow- 

 ers, H. E. Bid well, ot South Haven, Mich., stated the average profit on 

 peaches in Van Buren county, for the three years, 1872-'74, to have been 

 $343.89 per acre, i. e., §300 in 1872, §431.68 in 1873, and §300 in 1874. 



In 1879, George T. Lay, of Allegan county, Mich., sold §1,000 worth of 

 peachts from less than 4 acres, and another man is said to have sold §4,700 

 worth from 10 acres. The average value of the peaches from Mr. Lay's 

 orchard for five years, 1876-*80, was $213 per acre. 



At Lawton, Mich., in 188v), the peaches from 10 acres of five-years-old 

 trees sold for §250 per acre. 



I have no data concerning the profits of California orchards, but presume 

 an equally good showing might be made. 



VALUE OF PEACH FARMS. 



When on the Delaware and Chesapeake Peninsula I made careful inquiry 

 as to the value of peach farms in districts unaffected or but recently affected 

 by yellows. Real estate is dull and sales are slow, but peach farms bring 

 more than any other. 



The "Cassidy" or "Peach Blossom" farm, on Sassafras river, in Cecil 



ounty, contains about 663 acres, and has been sold several times within tlie 



last thirty years, each time for about §50 dollars per acre. In Sassafras 



Neck, good farms with buildings are worth from §10 to §70 per acre. In 



some instances offers of §100 an acre would be refused. 



About Chestertown good peach farms are worth from §70 to §100 per acre. 

 Plenty could be bought for $70. Recently, in the upper part of Queen Anne 

 county, a farm brought §73 per acre at a forced sale, and good peach farms 

 will readily bring that sum, while many peach growers would not sell for less- 

 than $100 per acre. 



