238 



DELAWARE. 



Sussex or New Castle, and the proportion has 

 not materially changed since then. The live 

 stock of the county is valued at over a million 

 dollars. The other agricultural products _ of 

 the county have been somewhat interfered with 

 by the culture of peaches, but large amounts 

 of grain are grown. The production in 1877 

 was about 420,000 bushels of wheat, 1,000,000 

 of corn, and more rye than in any other county 

 of the State, probably 7,000 bushels, and 175,- 

 000 bushels of oats. 



The population of Sussex County is nearly 

 33,000. The assessed value of real and personal 

 property in the county is about $14,000,000, 

 which is six times less than in New Castle 

 County. Of the 3,519 farms of the county 

 there is 1 under 3 acres, 97 under 10, 160 

 between 10 and 20, 829 between 20 and 50, 

 1,271 between 50 and 100, 1,446 between 100 

 and 500, 13 between 500 and 1,000, and 2 

 of over 1,000 acres. The cash value of these 

 farms is estimated at $8,972,031, and the value 

 of farming implements and machinery at $200,- 

 000. In 1870, $200,000 were paid by the farm- 

 ers for labor, and the (estimated) value of prod- 

 ucts that year was $1,844,752 ; the fruit prod- 

 ucts being $103,092, and the products of 

 market gardens $12,922. The grain products 

 last year were (estimated) : wheat, 75,000 

 bushels; rye, 3,000; corn, 1,400,000; oats, 

 55,800 ; barley, 450, and buckwheat, 273. 



The peach industry of the peninsula has 

 reached vast proportions. From careful esti- 

 mates it is concluded that there are about 

 5,550,000 peach-trees of all ages between the 

 Delaware and the Chesapeake, and the Brandy- 

 wine and Cape Charles. These trees cover 

 55,000 acres of the best and most productive 

 land on the peninsula, sufficient to make 500 

 farms of 100 acres each. This represents 

 an aggregate invested capital of $3,000,000. 

 From the official report of the railroad com- 

 pany there were shipped in 1875, by rail, 

 4,536,000 baskets, and the estimated water 

 shipments were 1,000,000 baskets, aggregat- 

 ing a total shipment of over 5,000,000 bas- 

 kets of this fruit. But all the peaches are 

 not exported, and it is estimated from careful 

 sources that at least 4,000,000 cans were turned 

 out in 1875 ; and it is claimed that, taking a 

 series of years together, it has been found that 

 peaches are as certain and remunerative a crop 

 as can be grown. The following record of 

 shipments, taken from the office of the Dela- 

 ware Railroad, will show the fluctuations of 

 the peach crop during the past eight years: 

 1870, 2,707 cars; 1871, 5,004; 1872, 4,091; 

 1873, 2,853; 1874, 1,266; 1875, 9,072; 1876, 

 2,117; 1877, 4,248. A car holds 500 baskets, 

 giving for the eight years 31,358 car-loads, or 

 15,679,000 baskets, an average of 1,709,777 

 baskets per annum. This does not include 

 water shipments, which are usually in amount 

 quite one fifth of the crop ; so that the entire 

 crop for the eight years would aggregate at 

 least 18,000,000 baskets, or an average of 2,250,- 



000 baskets. The crop for 1878 was much be- 

 low the average. A careful report says it is 

 tolerably safe to put the total shipments for 

 the year at 700,000 baskets, which will average 

 at least ninety cents delivered at the various 

 depots. This will show a return to the grow- 

 ers of the lower peninsula of about $630,000, 

 or over $575,000 clear profit from the fruit 

 actually shipped. It was estimated that 200,- 

 000 baskets would be consumed at home, 

 worth quite $100,000. Thus the peach-grow- 

 ers who were lucky enough to have fruit made 

 about $600,000 clear from the crop. The total 

 yield in baskets could not reach 1,000,000, 

 making the crop for the year a small one. 



At Seaford, on the Nanticoke River, in Sus- 

 sex County, 130,000 bushels of oysters were 

 packed and shipped in the spring season of 

 1878. Six miles below is the town of Laurel, 

 in the center of the berry country of the pen- 

 insula. The cultivation of strawberries, black- 

 berries, and raspberries is rapidly growing, and 

 the increase in their production has been enor- 

 mous. In 1874 there were shipped from the 

 peninsula to New York and Philadelphia, by 

 rail and most of this fruit goes by rail over 

 6,000,000 quarts of berries, which cleared on 

 an average seven cents per quart ; thus giving 

 the growers, after paying the expenses of pick- 

 ing and freight, nearly $500,000 from this 

 source alone. During the past nine years the 

 shipments of this small fruit have been as fol- 

 lows: 1870, 282 cars; 1871, 313; 1872, 565; 

 1873, 688; 1874, 714; 1875, 635; 1876, 672; 

 1877, 590 ; 1878, about 615 ; total, 5,074 cars. 

 A car-load will average 7,000 quarts, and the 

 total of shipments for the past eight years is 

 35,000,000 quarts. The shipment of straw- 

 berries over the Delaware Railroad, for the 

 season which closed on June 13th, amounted 

 to 647 car-loads. Taking 297 crates, or 8,000 

 quarts of berries, as the average capacity of a 

 car, which will be found to be nearly correct, 

 a total of 5,096,000 quarts is given for the sea- 

 son, which commenced on May 6th, seventeen 

 days earlier than that of 1877, and closed on June 

 13th. Last year the shipments over the road 

 were estimated at 4,096,000 ; but as the esti- 

 mate only included full car-loads, it was some- 

 what under the real figures, and for the same 

 reason the figures given for 1878 are an under- 

 estimate, it being impossible to take account 

 of all the small consignments. The following 

 table will show the number of car-loads sent 

 to the different shipping points, and the num- 

 ber of quarts, calculated from the same esti- 

 mate of 8,000 quarts to a car : 



