CHAPTER II 



ECONOMIC STATUS, AND EXTENT OF THE 

 PEACH INDUSTRY 



The peach is by far the most important of the "stone- 

 fruits." Plums (including prunes) and cherries are next 

 to the peach in the value of the crops in the United States, 

 although these fruits fall far below the peach in this respect. 

 According to the Thirteenth Census, the value of the peach 

 crop (including nectarines, which are negligible) for 1909 

 in this country was $28,781,078; of plums and prunes, 

 $10,299,495; and of cherries, $7,213,160. The apricot, the 

 only other stone-fruit of commercial importance, for the 

 same year, was valued at $2,884,119. 



YIELDS 



The peach crop for 1909, as reported by the Thirteenth 

 Census, amounted to 35,470,000 bushels, of which more 

 than one-fourth, or 9,267,000 bushels, were produced in Cali- 

 fornia, with a value of $4,574,000. Georgia, the second 

 state, both in yield and value of crop, produced 2,555,000 

 bushels worth $2,183,000. Though the yield in New York 

 was under 2,000,000 bushels, the reported value was but 

 little less than that of the Georgia crop. The yield for Cali- 

 fornia in 1909 was about three per cent larger than the 

 estimated average crop for the years 1909 to 1916, inclusive. 



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