NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 2241 



road from Grenada south to Brookhaven; the Gulf- 

 coast district, covering the territory along the Louisville 

 and Nashville Railroad from Bay St. Louis east to 

 Orange Grove; and along the Gulf and Ship Island road 

 from Gulfport to Hattiesburg. 



Peaches are grown more extensively than any other 

 fruit, and are shipped to northern markets from nearly 

 or quite every county in the state. The long growing 

 season enables the trees to come into bearing rapidly, 

 and a small crop of fruit is usually gathered the second 

 year from planting, while the trees often continue fruit- 

 ful from fifteen to twenty years. Although the trees 

 themselves are never injured by cold, the fruit crop is 

 occasionally cut short by spring frosts following warm 

 winter weather, which sometimes brings the trees into 

 bloom before the end of January. The early fruit is 

 ready for market about the last of May, and shipments 

 continue from that time until August, or later. Elberta, 

 Mountain Rose, Georgia Belle, Lilly Miller and Chinese 

 Cling are among the more popular varieties. 



Pears grow well in all parts of the state, and, until 

 about 1895, were planted more widely than any other 

 fruit-trees, but since that time the blight has been so 

 widespread and so severe that very few new orchards 

 have been planted. Fully nine-tenths of the trees are 

 either Le Conte or Kieffer, the latter being the more 

 resistant to blight. In recent years the Sand pear, 

 which does not blight in Mississippi, has been exten- 

 sively planted and is the most prolific fruiter known. 



Apple trees make a fair growth and bear well for some 

 years, but become less vigorous with age, and are shorter- 

 lived than in more northern latitudes. Nearly all varie- 

 ties ripen during the summer and fall, and very few, 

 even of the "long keepers," can be preserved through 

 the winter. The fruit always commands a high price 

 in the local markets, which makes the trees profitable, 

 even though they last but a few years. Considerable 

 fruit, mostly Early Harvest and Red June, is shipped 

 from the northeastern district, but no other part of the 

 state produces enough for a home supply. 



Plum trees are of uncertain value. The Wild Goose 

 and the Japanese varieties are the more common sorts, 

 and while some trees and some orchards may grow well 

 and bear heavily for many years, most of them succumb 

 after producing two or three crops. Cherries are rarely 

 successful. Figs are grown very commonly for home 

 use in the central part of the state, and in the Gulf 

 coast district are an important market crop. The fig 

 does not succeed under orchard conditions, but a few 

 trees grown near the house do well, and many of the 

 older trees produce 1,000 pounds or more of fruit annu- 

 ally, and this finds a ready market at the canning 

 factories. The Celeste is the common variety, and the 

 demand for the fruit at 4 cents a pound is far in excess 

 of the supply. Oranges are grown along the Gulf coast, 

 but even there the winters are occasionally so cold as to 

 make them unprofitable. 



Oranges are being planted extensively along the Gulf 

 coast, especially the Satsuma, a kid-glove variety of 

 Japanese origin, which has proved hardy, producing 

 regular and abundant crops, the trifoliata being used 

 as a stock for grafting. This variety of orange has with- 

 stood cold as low as 12 above zero. It is found that it 

 grows and bears equally well, if not better, on the Gulf . 

 coast of Mississippi than in its native home. Several 

 million trees of this orange have been planted in the 

 last ten years, and the output has attained to con- 

 siderable proportions. 



Pecans of the paper-shell kind are cultivated exten- 

 sively throughout the state, especially in the southern 

 tier of counties, Jackson, Harrison and Hancock 

 fronting immediately on the Gulf. Some years ago, 

 some exceedingly large pecans of very thin shell and of a 

 delightful flavor were found growing in Jackson County 

 in the vicinity of Ocean Springs, and Pascagoula in Jack- 

 son County. These nuts attracted considerable atten- 



142 



tion and many nurserymen on the Gulf coast grafted 

 from these varieties and extensive planting of them 

 was immediately begun. Many large groves are now 

 established on the coast, especially in Jackson County, 

 and the trees bear enormous crops, some of them reach- 

 ing a capacity of 225 pounds per annum. Grafting- 

 wood from these trees has been taken extensively to 

 other states, in which the soils are adapted to this nut. 

 There are many groves along the Gulf coasts of Missis- 

 isippi now of 100 to 1,000 acres and the industry 

 promises to be very extensive and profitable to those 

 who engage in it. There was shipped from the Pasca- 

 goula district in 1914 more than 200,000 pounds of 

 paper-shell pecans and half as many from the Ocean 

 Springs district. 



Grapes grow and bear as well as it is possible for them 

 to do in any part of the country. The long season for 

 growth develops very strong vines which are never 

 injured by the cold of winter, and the latest ripening sorts 

 have ample time for maturing. The early varieties ripen 

 about June 20 in the Gulf coast district, and about July 

 10 in the northeastern district, and nearly all the crop 

 is gathered by August 1. This early ripening of the 

 fruit enables the grower to secure high prices for his 

 early shipments, but a crop which matures in the heat 

 of midsummer cannot be kept profitably, even in cold 

 storage, but must be marketed at once, regardless of 

 price. Champion, Ives, Delaware, Niagara, Perkins and 

 Herbemont are among the more popular varieties. The 

 Scuppernong (Vitis rotundifolid) is a valuable native 

 grown in all parts of the state for home use and for the 

 manufacture of wine, but is not a shipping variety. 



Among the small-fruits, strawberries are the most 

 important, being grown by thousands of acres. They 

 are grown more extensively in the central district than 

 elsewhere, though there is a considerable acreage in the 

 northeastern district also. In the Gulf coast district the 

 plants grow well and bear abundantly. Klondyke and 

 Lady Thompson are the favorite varieties. Shipments 

 begin about the first of April, and the bulk of the crop 

 is gathered in the next six weeks, though occasional 

 shipments are made in every month of the year. 



Blackberries and dewberries grow spontaneously in 

 all parts of the state and have proved profitable in 

 cultivation, the Lucretia, Dallas and other hybrids 

 being the favorite varieties. Neither currants nor goose- 

 berries do well in any part of the state, as they make a 

 new growth and come into bloom soon after the fall rains 

 begin, and soon become so weakened as to be worthless. 

 Raspberries do well when planted on soils containing 

 sufficient moisture, but are seldom grown for market 

 excepting in the northeastern district. Turner is the 

 favorite variety, and the blackcaps are rarely seen. 



The growing of early vegetables for northern market 

 is followed more extensively and is more generally pro- 

 fitable than is the growing of fruits. Field plantings of 

 radishes, peas and other hardy sorts begin in January. 

 Shipments begin by the first of March and continue 

 until the melon crop is harvested in July. The first crop 

 of Irish potatoes, mostly Early Ohio and Triumph, is 

 ready for market in May, and in August a second crop 

 is often planted which matures in November, when it 

 finds a ready home market, or is left in the ground until 

 early spring, when it is placed on the northern markets 

 as "new potatoes just received from Bermuda," and 

 brings a high price. The second crop, however, is un- 

 certain, as it is difficult to secure a prompt growth if 

 seed from the early crop is used, and it is often impos- 

 sible to secure northern seed so late in the season. 

 Sweet potatoes are grown in all parts of the state, and 

 are shipped from July until March. Asparagus is a 

 profitable early crop which is grown largely in the cen- 

 tral district, and seems wholly free from rust or other 

 diseases. Rhubarb is unable to endure the heat of the 

 long summer, and the roots soon decay. Beans, beets, 

 cabbages, peas, radishes and turnips are all grown so 



