Historical Notes 11 



consisted of 18,000 to 20,000 trees, all of which were seed- 

 lings. Those were days of peach brandy, and the entire 

 product of this orchard is said to have been used in making 

 this commodity. Within the next few years several other 

 small orchards were planted in the vicinity of Baltimore. It 

 was apparently not until later that commercial orchards 

 of importance were planted on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 

 land, but it is said that about 1830 an orchard of some 6000 

 trees was planted in Kent County, while about the same time 

 one of 50,000 trees was planted in Cecil County along the 

 Sassafras River, and from time to time others were put out 

 at different points. Thus the industry developed, but com- 

 mercial peach-growing in the modern sense, in eastern Mary- 

 land, appears to have been developed during the past fifty 

 years, or since the Civil War. It probably reached its zenith 

 during the years from about 1875 to 1890, after which for 

 various reasons, but especially on account of the spread of 

 "peach yellows," the industry declined. W^hile there has 

 been something of a revival of peach planting in this part 

 of the country in recent years, there are some counties in 

 eastern Maryland in which there are now practically no 

 commercial orchards where once a traveler could hardly pass 

 beyond the view of one or more. In large districts nearly 

 every farm had its commercial peach orchard. 



It would require many pages in which to write in full the 

 history of peach-growing in America. The industry has been 

 extended from time to time into new sections until there 

 is now not a state — hardly a county — in which peach 

 trees have not been planted. The development of peach- 

 growing in each important section has its own story, in many 

 instances it is a story of pluck and struggle and finally the 

 realization of a vision that came to the mind of some enter- 



