FRUIT CULTURE. 19 



reputation and form an. important crop from the swamp lands, the 

 shipment amounting to perhaps a hundred thousand dollars annually. 



PEACHES. 



Peaches are grown in all parts of the State, but commercially in 

 only a few sections. Peaches of remarkably fine quality are produced 

 in the upper piedmont section and on the dryer ridges in the moun- 

 tain country. But little has been done in these sections beyond the 

 supply of the local markets. Peach-growing on a large scale has 

 developed mainly in the long-leaf pine section, the sand-hill country 

 in Moore County, where immense orchards have been planted and 

 where the business is increasing. In this section there has never 

 been a total failure of the crop, and the peaches produced on these 

 sandy soils are high-colored and of fine quality. Inasmuch as lands 

 in that section are the lowest in price of any in the whole State, it 

 would seem that with the rarilroad facilities, which are abundant, a 

 large business should grow up in peach culture as well as in some 

 other fruits. Those interested in peaches should visit the great 

 orchards near Southern Pines, on the. Seaboard Air Line Railroad, 

 in the peach season, and note there the great development that is 

 being made. As with other fruits, the later and finer peaches that can 

 be produced in the mountain section should find a profitable market 

 in the South. 



PEARS. 



Pears thrive well everywhere, but especially in the coast region 

 and the upper piedmont and mountain sections. In all parts of the 

 State the LeConte and the Kieffer, the hybrids, with the Chinese 

 pears, thrive, and the Kieffer especially is a far better pear here than 

 in the North. It grows here to a larger size and ripens more per- 

 fectly than northward, and for canning it should be made a very 

 profitable fruit. Where proper care is given, all the finer pears 

 thrive in the coast country and in the mountains, too, better than in 

 the intermediate section. ~No finer pears are grown anywhere than 

 those we have seen grown near the coast. 



PLUMS. 



Where properly cared for all the species of plums thrive in any 

 section of the State. The finer European sorts demand higher cul- 

 ture and greater care in fighting the curculio, but they can be grown 

 to perfection, while the native sorts, .and especially the Japanese 

 varieties, thrive in the greatest profusion and with the most ordinary 

 care, and their shipment North can be made very profitable. 



