THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK IO3 



recent times, much of the land now covered with peach-orchards having 

 been originally planted to vineyards Possibly the region was at its zenith 

 in the nineties, the plantings here contributing greatly to putting Ohio in 

 third place at this time among the states of the Union in the production 

 of peaches. 



Michigan furnishes an interesting chapter in the history of the peach- 

 industry. The industry was started in what is now the Michigan peach- 

 belt by an Indian trader who planted a pit in 1775 near St. Joseph. From 

 this tree sprang seedling orchards, one of which, near Douglas at the mouth 

 of the Kalamazoo River, numbered 300 trees. There were no budded 

 trees until 1834. -'^ conjunction of several factors now gave peach-growing 

 a tremendous impetus in the State. Chicago, growing with leaps and 

 bounds, demanded peaches; the soil and climate of western Michigan were 

 found to be ideal for this fruit; between the supply and demand was quick 

 and cheap transportation by water. Shipments began in 1834 to Chicago 

 and, as this and other western cities grew, peach-planting in Michigan 

 progressed as probably never before in any other part of the world. In 

 the seventies peach-yellows swept like a wave of fire over the southern 

 portion of what is now the belt, driving the industry northward until at 

 Traverse City the peach reached its highest northern limit in the eastern 

 states. With better control of the yellows, peach -orchards were again 

 planted in the southern parts of the belt and the industry continues to 

 thrive, though with the ups and downs incident to this fruit wherever 

 grown. 



Another large peach-growing area lies in southern Illinois extending 

 across the Mississippi into Missouri and Kansas. Westward, in Colorado, 

 Utah, California, Oregon and Washington, are the world's newest peach- 

 orchards, all of which have arisen to commercial importance within recent 

 times. In southern Illinois and Missouri, however, even before the Civil 

 War, peach-growing had assumed sufficient magnitude to be called an 

 industry. The present standing of these later peach-areas may best be 

 compared with that of the older regions by a tabulated report from the 

 United States Census Reports which is herewith printed. In the fluctuat- 

 ing figures of this table one sees the exploitation of the peach. What 

 other tree-crop in the whole world could show more ups and downs in the 

 brief space of thirty years? No state holds first rank two decades in 

 succession; in fifteen states in 1910 there were more trees not of bearing 

 age than there were in bearing; there were more peach-trees in the United 



