32 THE CULTIVATION OF THE 



Road, was beginning to penetrate its hitherto hidden 

 fields. Now the intelligent and progressive men of the 

 section saw the opportunity for development of the 

 culture of the Peach, and from that time the business 

 has increased and prospered, until to-day it is, probably, 

 above all others, the great source of prosperity to the 

 good people inhabiting the land between the two great 

 bays of the Delaware and the Chesapeake. 



The Peach crop appears to be running in cycles of 

 years. In the " seventies " the business was poor, in the 

 " sixties" it was better, and now, in the ** eighties," it is 

 flourishing grandly, the season of '8o-'8i being the only 

 general failure. Improved culture and methods may, of 

 course, be the cause of all this. 



The probable centre of the peninsular peach-belt 

 at this time, under the present methods of culture, etc., 

 is about Wyoming, in Kent county, Delaware, and 

 extends north to Middletown, in New Castle County, 

 and south to Laurel, in Sussex county, Delaware, and 

 in breadth reaches from the Delaware bay to the 

 Chesapeake. Fifteen years ago, or less, the centre was 

 probably at Middletown ; so it will be seen that the 

 belt is spreading southward quite rapidly. The great 

 problem to solve is, if possible, to bring back the centre 

 to Middletown by new methods of culture and other 

 adjuncts. At the present time, in some parts of New 

 Castle county, notably about Iron and Chestnut-hills, 



