1240 



PEACH 



PEACH 



reach its destination and plain cars for near-by points. 

 The cost per basket on refrigerator cars to Boston, 

 Providence, Hartford, and other eastern points is about 

 40 cents, and to New York, Elmira or S3Tacuse about 

 35 cents each. In plain cars the cost to New York is 

 19 cents, and to Philadelphia about 12 cents each. 



A large proportion of the smaller fruit is used by can- 

 ning factories, of which there are one or two in every 



1678. Hale Peach tree before pruning. (Seep. 1233.) 



town. A factory in Seaford uses about 3,000 baskets per 

 day when running its full capacity. The Peaches are 

 peeled by women, and the factories of the state employ 

 several thousand hands. Formerly a good many of the 

 smaller Peaches were evaporated, and evaporators were 

 built throughout the Peach-growing belt. The present 

 low price of evaporated fruit and the competition of 

 California and the West have caused this phase of the 

 Peach business to be abandoned. Numerous factories 

 have converted large forests of gum and of pine trees 

 into carriers and baskets. In 1900 the baskets cost 

 from 3 to 33^ cents and carriers from 14 to 17 cents each. 



4. Varieties. — In no other fruit have the standard 

 orchard varieties changed more than in the Peach. 

 Many of the Delaware orchards planted not more than 

 ten years ago are now unprofitable because varieties in 

 demand then are now out of date. Formerly the white 

 Peaches, such as Oldmixon and Mountain Rareripe, 

 were in strong demand ; now the call is for yellow fruit, 

 and the finest white varieties have to be sold at low 

 prices. Early kinds also used to pay, but now they 

 come in competition with the best varieties from 

 Georgia. Late varieties, which were also very profitable, 

 are now ripe when the best fruit from New York, New 

 Jersey and western Maryland is in the market. The old 

 orchards comprise Troth, Hale, Crawford Early, Moun- 

 tain Rose, Reeve, Oldmixon, Mt. Rareripe, Crawford 

 Late, Stump, Smock, Couper Late, Garey Hold-on, and 

 others, and as in other fruits, most of them contain 

 too many kinds. A large proportion of these old kinds 

 have to go to the canning factories at low prices when- 

 ever there is a general Peach crop, as the market will 

 not take them. In the new orchards the yellow fruit 

 will predominate, with a few white varieties. Probably 

 the kinds most often found in orchards under five years 

 old are Foster, Mountain Rose, Reeves, Oldmixon, 

 Moore Favorite, Elberta, Chair Choice, Crawford Late 

 and Smock. The Elberta is being planted more heavily 

 than any other variety. If the writer were to set a new 

 orchard his own choice would be as follows: Connett 

 Early, perhaps Mountain Rose, Foster, Reeves, Elberta, 

 Chair, perhaps Crawford Late, Prize and Townsend. 

 Nearly all growers would always include Crawford Late, 

 and many of them Moore Favorite and Thurber. 



Of the newer varieties in Delaware, Connett Early, 



Carman, Waddell, Greensboro, Champion, Mamie Ross 

 and Lady Inguld are the most promising, with prefer- 

 ence for the first three and the fifth and sixth. The 

 Delaware Experiment Station has an experimental 

 orchard of 300 varieties ten years old at Seaford, on the 

 writer's place, and another orchard of 75 varieties at 

 Bridgeville, most of which fruited in 1900. In the Sea- 

 ford orchard a number of Tasmauian trees were planted 

 to determine their orchard value and their suscepti- 

 bility to Peach yellows. A number were also planted at 

 the Delaware Experiment Station grounds and in other 

 parts of New Castle county. In Sussex county they are 

 vastly inferior to home-grown stock in the quality of 

 the fruit and in the growth of the trees, while in New 

 Castle county they practically all died from the yellows. 



5. Peach Yellows. — The yellows swept the orchards 

 out of New Castle county and from the northern part of 

 Kent county, but it has not advanced for ten years much 

 beyond the borders of northern Sussex. The most 

 intelligent growers hold it in check by cutting out the 

 trees on the first indication of disease and burning 

 them, but there is no systematic attempt on the part of 

 all growers, nor on the part of the state, to stamp out 

 the trouble. There is a yellows law on the statutes, but 

 it is not enforced, though in the past its enforcement 

 did much good. For several years the disease has not 

 been so severe, though there has been a good deal of 

 complaint about it in 1900. New orchards are again 

 being planted on a large scale in Kent county and some 

 are again planting around Middletown in New Castle 

 county. Many believe that the yellows has run its 

 course in Delaware, and that by careful attention in 

 taking out trees the Peach can again be set in places 

 where the yellows has wiped out the orchards. 



6. General BemarJcs. — The geographical location of 

 Delaware is such that no other market can approach it 

 in nearness to the great consuming centers. It is at 

 the gateway of the greatest cities on the continent. 

 One night on the railroad will reach most of them, and 

 two nights all of the desirable markets. The soils are 

 excellent, heavy in northern Delaware, a medium loam 

 in the central part, and a sandy loam in Sussex county. 

 It is easily and cheaply worked, not stony, and responds 

 kindly to treatment. Of the new lands, those recently 

 cleared of chestnut and sassafras are preferred, but 

 pine-land makes excellent orchards. Crimson clover, 

 cow-peas or other cover-crops grow readily and furnish 

 humus and nitrogen to the soil, and with the natural 

 ease of working and cheapness of labor make it possible 

 to bring an orchard into bearing and to maintain it at a 



1679. Hale tree after pruning. 



very low cost. Late spring frosts are the most serious 

 drawback to the business. Sometimes several crops 

 will come through in succession, then for three or four 

 years the crop will be killed. In the past decade there 

 have been four crops in the state. Other drawbacks are 

 tlie large <>nli;inls, making intensive culture without a 

 large capilnl iuiiiossiblp, while stil! another is the ten- 

 ant system of workiug the land, which makes it difficult 



