4 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



cially favored in the way of peach soils, and these 

 advantages being recognized, the peach has been de- 

 veloped in these particular sections. 



In other cases the cultivation of peaches has been 

 localized by the presence of favoring bodies of water. 

 The peach is notoriously sensitive to winter freezing 

 and to damage by spring frost. Both of these elements 

 of climate are ameliorated to some extent by prox- 

 imity to large lakes, and this doubtless accounts for 

 the development of peach culture in such regions as 

 the Niagara district of New York, the lake shore of 

 western Michigan, and in the Niagara district in 

 Ontario. 



In a good many cases, however, the determining 

 reason seems to have been extremely human. There 

 have been men at the bottom of the whole business. 

 These men have had faith in peach growing, faith 

 in themselves, and the brains and the grit to make 

 a success of the business. Nearly all industries, 

 especially agricultural industries, go by neighbor- 

 hoods. When two or three men succeed in a given 

 line, they open up a market for their products and at 

 the same time they teach their neighbors the 

 methods of growing and selling. Thus a great many 

 industries are developed more because there are 

 suitable men to take the lead than because natural 

 geographical or meteorological conditions are espe- 

 cially favorable. 



It may be worth while to run over the map hur- 

 riedly and point out where some of these small 

 peach-growing districts are located. It is mani- 

 festly impossible in a small compass to make a com- 

 plete and comprehensive statement of the question, 

 so the peach-growing localities pointed out in this 

 essay must be accepted merely as samples of what 



