EXCERPTS FROM THE 1956 PEACH TREE SURVEY 



In ^1956 a survey of the apple trees in Massachusetts was made by the 

 Massachusetts Fruit Growers' Association with the cooperation of the 

 Massachusetts Extension Service. This survey recorded the number of trees 

 by variety and age as of 1955. 



At the same time, a record was made of the number of peach trees being 

 grown by commercial apple growers. As this survey did not include those, if 

 any, who might be growing peaches but no apples, the figures obtained from th« 

 survey cannot be considered as absolute. However, it may reasonably be assumed 

 that the survey included a sufficiently high proportion of peach trees grown to 

 provide a basis for the analysis of trends in the peach industry in Massachusetts 

 as of 1955. 



The total number of peach trees reported was 51,947 distributed among the 

 counties as shown in table I. 



Table I . Distribution of Peach 

 Trees by Counties 



Table II . Peach Trees by Age Groups 



Table I indicates that approximately three fourths of the peach trees are 

 located in Middlesex, Worcester and Hampden Counties. 



The segregation of the trees into age groups is shown in table II. An 

 analysis of table II shows that approximately 90 per cent of the peach trees 

 in 1955 were less than 15 years of age. 



The varieties being grown were arbitrarily segregated into groups as 

 shown in table III. 



Table IV . Major Varieties 



Variety 



No. of 

 Trees 



Elberta 13,440 



Golden Jubilee 10,671 



Halehaven 6,260 



Redhaven 2,999 



Early Elberta 2,995 



J. H. Hale 1,672 



7. of All 

 Trees 



25.9 



20.5 



12,1 



5.8 



5.8 



3.2 



