1238 



PEACH 



PEACH 



makes it unsatisfactory to the best trade, so that it be- 

 comes an open question as to the desirability of the 

 plan. It is noticeable, however, that the largest and 

 best growers almost invariably pack and ship their own 

 product, believing that there is greater profit in a high 

 individual reputation than in combination. 



In another manner has the State Horticultural Society 

 and an excellent system of State Farmers Institutes 

 worked r. vast benefit to the industry. They have held 

 meetings singly and in series in every Peach-growing 

 locality in the state. At these meetings every detail of 

 modern high-class Peach culture and marketing has 

 been freely given by the most successful growers of 

 this and other states. These meetings have been fol- 

 lowed by complete printed reports placed in the hands 

 of every grower. In this connection it should not be 

 considered too extreme to state that the help received by 

 our growers from a few able practical and scientific men 

 cannot be estimated in dollars. Suffice it to say that 

 nearly every practicable idea given by these men has 

 been quite generally acted upon with great financial ad- 

 vantage, and the improvement in handling this crop has 

 been so marked during the past five years as to be really 

 phenomenal. Nature having done its full duty to this 

 region, the elements required for success are a careful 

 selection of location with regard to soil, elevation and 

 shipping facilities, a willingness to learn, and a love for 

 the business, coupled with a high sense of honor in mar- 

 keting. The adverse conditions are improper selections 

 of location or varieties and the diseases, yellows and curl 

 leaf, both of which are quite easily managed by ener- 

 getic men. Trees affected with yellows are promptly 

 removed and destroyed, and replaced immediately by 

 young trees. The curl leaf is not regular in its appear- 

 ance, but occasionally a season comes when its attacks 

 on certain varieties are serious. It is easily controlled 

 by preventive spraying. 



The writer has visited many of the noted Peach re- 

 gions, but nowhere has he ever seen such success attained 

 by men of modest means as in the Michigan Peach belt. 

 Its future looks even brighter than its past. 



R. MORBILL. 



PEACH CULTURE IN DELAWARE. 1. Historical 

 Sketch. No one knows when the first Peach trees were 

 planted in Delaware, but undoubtedly there- were many 

 before the Revolutionary period. The trees were seed- 

 lings, and every old garden contained a sufficient num- 

 ber to supply the family with preserved and dried 

 Peaches during the winter months. There was also a 

 surplus, which the "lord of the manor" had distilled 

 into Peach brandy, in which all gentlemen of the old 

 school delighted. We read that as early as 1814, a Mr. 

 Bayley, of Accomack county, Va. (a county south of Del- 

 aware on the peninsula), had 63,000 Peach trees, the 

 product of which was converted into brandy. The trees 

 at 6 years of age yielded about 15 gallons of fourth-class 

 brandy per 100 trees, which sold at $2 per gallon. The 

 profits could not have been large, unless the trees 

 were planted much closer than they are now planted. 

 It is possible that the seed was sown in rows, and the 

 seedlings allowed to remain as they grew. 



The first Peach orchard for commercial purposes in 

 Delaware was planted in the spring of 1832, by Isaac 

 Reeves and Jacob Ridgeway on a farm belonging to the 

 latter, about one mile from Delaware City, on the Dela- 

 ware and Chesapeake canal. It consisted of 20 acres of 

 budded trees, and by 1836 they had planted 110 acres. 

 In a single season Messrs. Reeves and Ridgeway re- 

 ceived $16,000 gross from their Peach crop, the fruit 

 then bringing from $1.25 to $3 per 3-peck basket in 

 the Philadelphia market. This success induced others 

 to embark in the business, among whom was Major 

 Philip Reybold, who in 1842 had 12,960 trees. James 

 Thompson was another pioneer in the business. In 1846 

 he stated that New Castle county contained about 3,000 

 acres in Peach trees. Major Reybold and his sons alone 

 had 117,720 trees covering 1,090 acres, from which 

 63,344 baskets were shipped in August of 1845. In 1848, 

 the Peach crop was estimated at 500,000 baskets, chiefly 

 from New Castle county, of which the Reybolds grew 

 about one-fourth. In Kent county, Jehu Reed had 

 planted an orchard of Red Cheek Melocoton as early, 

 perhaps, as 1829, and several years later had 10,000 



trees. J. G. Brown in the seventies had one of the most 

 extensive orchards in Kent county. In Sussex county, 

 Capt. Chas. Wright was one of the first to plant trees 

 on an extended scale, and in the sixties sold the product 

 of a 10-acre orchard for $5,000 net. The varieties were 

 Troth, Early York, Golden Rareripe, Oldmixon Free, 

 Stump, Crawford Late, Mammoth Melocoton, Crockett 

 White and Smock. Ex-Governor Ross and J. P. Collins 

 were also extensively engaged in the Peach business, 

 but the orchards in Sussex at that time generally con- 

 sisted of from 1,000 to 5,000 trees each. 



Governor B. T. Biggs, Governor John P. Cochran and 

 J. B. Fennimore were among the largest growers around 

 Middletown in 1871, and Seerick Shallcross, also of Mid- 

 dletown, marketed 125,000 baskets, valued at $150,000. 

 This orchard contained more than 100, 000 trees, and was 

 said at that time to be the largest in the world. 



Delaware was the first state to develop Peach culture 

 on a large scale, and for years produced more fine 

 Peaches than any other locality in the world. The qual- 

 ity, appearance and size of the fruit when grown under 

 favorable conditions have never been excelled, if 

 equaled, by any other section of the United States, but 

 the appearance of the yellows in New Castle and Kent 

 counties, the frequent destruction of the crop by un- 

 timely frosts, and the opening of other sections has 

 taken some of the glory away from the once famous 

 Peach districts of Kent and New Castle counties. The 

 center of the industry was Middletown in the late sixties. 

 Then it moved to Smyrna. After a few years Wyoming 

 was the great Mecca towards which all the commission 

 men looked for their supply ; now it is Bridgeville. 

 The Peach belt has been moving southward for several 

 years, until now Sussex county raises the largest part of 

 the crop. The trees do not attain the mammoth size of 

 those on the heavier soils of New Castle and Kent 

 counties, but Sussex, except in northern parts, has es- 

 caped that bugbear of Peach-growers, the "yellows." 



There are probably about four million Peach trees in 

 Delaware, though no accurate statistics have been made 

 since 1890. The Delaware railroad company estimated 

 that there would be 4,500,000 baskets of fruit along its 

 various lines in 1900, but its records for the crop are 

 not yet completed. On August 25, 35 car-loads, mostly 

 of yellow fruit, were shipped from Bridgeville alone. 

 There would have been at least 60 cars had there been 

 a demand for white fruit, but a large proportion of the 

 white Peaches were not picked in 1900. The Peaches 

 are shipped to all of the large cities where freight rates 

 are not prohibitive, and to smaller interior cities of 

 Pennsylvania, New York and New England. 



2. Culture. Most of the trees are set in the fall. 

 Where fall planting is practiced the tree pushes out 

 young roots all winter during mild weather, and as a 

 rule grows better than when set in the spring and is 

 compelled to grow roots and leaves at the same time. 

 The ground, preferably a clover sod, high and dry, is 

 plowed deep, thoroughly harrowed and checked into 

 rows generally 20 x 20 feet apart. Some planters set 22 

 feet, others closer. A hole is dug of sufficient size to 

 admit the roots without crowding, and in November the 

 tree is planted about the depth it formerly stood in the 

 nursery, with soil heaped a little to allow for settling. 

 For planting, the writer prefers a good one-year tree 

 of the second or third grade, 2-3 feet in length, without 

 many branches. The small nursery stock will make good 

 trees if properly cared for and will last as long, bear as 

 much fruit and come into bearing as young as trees 

 4-6 feet high. It is a great mistake to suppose the 

 larger tree is better. It is more sightly, but that is its 

 chief merit. It will not develop as many roots, nor will 

 it pack in as good shape for shipping, and the shock of 

 transplanting is far less to the small tree; it can be cut 

 back root and top ; it is nmch easier to plant ; and the 

 percentage of loss is much smaller, for if in good con- 

 dition and well planted, 99 per cent will grow. The un- 

 dersigned says this after having grown several million 

 trees in the nursery and many thousand in the orchard 

 of his own propagation and from other nurseries all 

 over this country. On light lands a shovelful of wood 

 ashes or of well-rotted manure gives the tree a good 

 start. Either is applied at the base of the tree during 

 the winter. Before the sap starts the trees are usually 



