PEACH 



PEACH 



1237 



one light one where orchards are properly located and 



correctly handled. 



The history of the industry can probably be dated to 

 some year prior to 18G0, but it did not reach any 

 prominence until about 1SC>4 and was at high tide by 

 1867. At this time and up to this date the commercial 

 ■orchards were in a small radius around St. Joseph and 

 Benton Harbor, the sales being almost entirely made in 

 Chicago, as there were no railroad communications with 

 other cities and the steamboat service to Chicago was 

 fairly good. During the year 18fi7 yellows was first 

 noticed by men who knew the disease, although it no 

 doubt existed here a year or two previous. However, 

 little attention was paid to this disease until it gained 

 such impetus and virulence that these orchards, valued 

 at and selling as high as $1,000 per acre, were swept out 

 of existence. So thoroughly did this disease do its work 

 that there were probably not as many as ten live Peach 

 trees in a whole township in 1880. The pioneers of the 

 Peach industry gave up in despair and either left the 

 ■country or turned their attention to farm crops or small 

 fruits, whii'h l;itt<T industry soon gave this port, Benton 

 Harbor, the distiin-iiuu of being the heaviest shipping 

 point for small fruit in the United States. 



While this destruction of the orchards was going on 

 at this point a few men at South Haven, 30 miles north 

 on the high banks of Lake Michigan, with perfect soil 

 and slopes and most beautiful surroundings, had be- 

 gun the planting of orchards, and with wisdom born 

 of misfortunes and with a higher intelligence, began 

 to investigate the dread disease; and so well and cor- 

 rectly did they learn its treatment that to this day 

 the yellows has never gotten the start of them and the 

 orchards were never better nor larger than they are to- 

 day, while the yellows had been constantly with them 

 since 1875. In sharp contrast to this case, another point 

 within 30 miles began setting Peaches about 1880, nearly 

 tlie entire country being covered with beautiful orchards 

 for miles around, but when the yellows appeared many 

 owners, with strange perversity, refused to destroy 

 tliseased trees or allow it to be done under the law then 

 recently enacted for the purpose of protecting orchards 

 from destruction by this or other contagious disease. 

 They even went into the courts to save dying trees from 

 the ax and fire of the legal commissioners. The inevi- 

 table result was that in a few years this beautiful pros- 

 perous region was practically out of the Peach business. 



During these years it had been discovered that 

 Peaches could be grown with success and profit at points 

 far north, and in some eases far inland, where the ele- 

 vation was great, until now immense quantities are 

 marketed in Kent, Oceana, Mason, Benzie, Grand Trav- 

 erse and Leelanaw counties, while Berrien is rapidly 

 regaining her lost prestige as the heavy producing 

 county, an honor long held by Allegan county. 



In all these counties the yellows now exists in nearly 

 all orchards over four years old, but only in the hands of 

 a careless few is it allowed to gain enough headway to 

 menace an orchard. All men now know that as soon 

 as the disease appears the tree affected should be de- 

 stroyed by fire as commanded by law, and if neglected 

 the entire orchard must pay the penalty. Commissioners 

 clothed with power to act stand guard over the careless 

 ones in every township, compelling them to destroy 

 immediately all affected trees or do it themselves, 

 charging up all cost and collecting it with other taxes. 

 So well does this law work and so few are our other 

 difficulties that this Peach belt is now beyond doubt the 

 best in America, the crops being more profitable than 

 those of California and more reliable than those of any 

 other section. 



It is impossible at this date to give statistics as to the 

 acreage of yield, as the business is extending so very 

 rapidly and the census report of 1900 is not yet issued. 

 In a general way it may be said that this entire region 

 is one of small orchards. Nothing like the mammoth 

 orchards of Georgia can be found in the state, but or- 

 chards can be found in every neighborhood producing 

 more Peaches from one acre than these mammoth or- 

 chards do from four, and giving regular annual crops. 

 Trees well cared for usually begin producing at two 

 years old, and at four years old should and do produce 

 4 to 5 bushels per tree, while the best orchards some- 



times produce as high as 8 or 10 bushels on trees 6 to 8 

 years old and with trees set 20 by 20 ft., which is com- 

 mon practice, the yield varies from 200 to 800 bushels 

 per acre. 



The cultivation and care of the Peach orchard have un- 

 dergone great change in the past 10 years. What might 

 be styled modern methods prevail now in nearly every 

 neighborhood; fine and thorough tillage, careful timely 

 pruning and rigid thinning previous to the pit-hardening 

 period are the rule among our best growers. They know 

 that a tree overloaded cannot produce choice fruit nor 

 can a tree weakened by an excessive crop of fruit pro- 

 duce a good crop the following year. 



The best fertilization for our soils for Peach-growing 

 seems to be phosphoric acid in the form of bone, and 

 potash in the form of carbonate or muriate, with vege- 

 table mold furnished every year by a growth of oats or 

 other winter cover-crop sown after tillage ceases in 

 August. This cover-crop holds all the Peach foliage 

 where it falls. In the spring it furnishes a decomposed 

 mass ready to be turned under to a shallow depth by 

 gang plows. 



The packages used are of various kinds, but the prin- 

 cipal ones are the one-fifth bushel or 10-pound basket, 

 the J^-bushel or 25-pound basket and the bushel basket 

 for medium grades, while the G-basket carrier crate, 

 holding 30 pounds of fruit, is a favorite package for 

 strictly fancy grades. 



The markets, as well as the market facilities, are un- 

 surpassed. With only 3-6 hours' run the lake steamers 

 land the freshly picked fruit in Chicago or Milwaukee, 

 where sales are made during the earlier morning hours, 

 and shipment made by refrigerator trains and express 

 for all the cities of the great west and northwest region 

 where Peaches cannot grow. In this manner is the sup- 

 ply for the smaller cities distributed, while the larger 

 cities are supplied by refrigerator cars loaded where the 

 fruit is grown and sold to spot buyers or con^dgned to 

 the commission trade. In addition to this five or six great 

 railway systems take solid trains of refrigerators out of 

 this region every evening on rapid schedules for points 

 east and south, the favorite markets being Buffalo, Pitts- 

 burg, New York and Boston in the east, Indianapolis 

 and Cincinnati in the south, while there has sprung up 

 during the past two years a very large direct car-load 

 trade with cities in Iowa and Missouri river points. 



The profits of this crop vary so much according to the 

 skill and judgment of the grower that it is well-nigh 

 impossible to give accurate information, but it is proba- 

 bly a safe estimate to put the average net profit at 

 $100 to $150 per acre for a term of years with ordinary 

 care, but the best growers realize far greater returns. 

 Indeed, in 1899, when all other regions except California 

 had an entire failure, the region about Benton Harbor 

 and St. Joseph had a fair crop and net returns of $300 

 to $500 per acre were common, while in one orchard over 

 $35,000 was taken from 40 acres, and one block of four 

 acres of Elbertas gave a return of $6,700, or $1,675 per 

 acre, following with a crop in 1900 that gave a net re- 

 turn of more than $600 per acre in a year of great plenty 

 and low prices. Such yields and prices are phenomenal, 

 and should only be considered as indicating the possi- 

 bilities of the crop under most favorable circumstances 

 and with skilful management. 



Several attempts at organization for commercial pur- 

 poses have been attempted, but so far none have been 

 entirely successful unless what is known as the central 

 packing-house system now being worked at two points 

 in the Peach belt may be said to be a success. This plan 

 is one by which several growers combine and build a 

 packing house on the railroad, hauling all their fruit to 

 this central point, where it is all packed under the super- 

 vision of a superintendent and loaded directly into the 

 cars, selling in car lots by grade either to spot buyers 

 or in distant markets by wire so far as possible, con- 

 signing the balance to promising markets. This plan 

 has the advantage of relieving the grower of the burden 

 of operating a packing house, thereby reducing cost of 

 packages and packing to a minimum and facilitating 

 sales. The disadvantage is in hauling loose Peaches 

 several miles, and in the extra handling, which causes 

 bruising and injury to quality if fruit is ripe. This last 

 fact necessitates picking the friiit rather green and 



