THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK I3I 



CHAPTER IV 

 PEACH-GROWING IN NEW YORK 



The history of the peach, whether narrative or natural, shows that 

 this fruit succeeds commercially only in restricted areas under special soil 

 and climatic conditions. In the United States, as we have seen, the peach- 

 industr>' has sprung up in a dozen or more distinct geographical regions, 

 three of which are in New York. In discussing peach-growing in New 

 York we must, first, determine the boundaries of its peach-regions; second, 

 show the relative importance of the peach-industry in each; and, third, 

 note the determinants that make favored parts of the State peach-regions. 



The three main peach-areas in New York are the Hudson River Valley, 

 the shore of Lake Ontario and the lands surrounding the Finger Lakes. 

 The relative importance of these areas is shown by the number of trees in 

 the regions. More than half of the peach-trees in New York are along 

 the south shore of Lake Ontario, the total number in bearing for the region 

 in 1909 being 1,271,514. The two counties of the State leading in number 

 of trees are in this belt, Niagara with 591,350 and Monroe with 339,375, 

 while of the other three in the belt there are 166,584 in Wayne, 157,934 in 

 Orleans and 16,271 in Oswego. The Hudson River Valley district is second 

 in importance, with a total of 679,662 trees, of which Ulster County, 

 ranking third in the State, has 313,971, and Orange, with fourth rank, has 

 212,879, while Dutchess has 63,741, Columbia 51,818, Rockland 21,081 and 

 Westchester 16,172. The Finger Lakes region, with a much smaller area 

 of suitable land, has but 322,179 trees, of which Seneca County has 

 81,440, Ontario 56,495, Schuyler 51,993, Yates 48,350, Tompkins 34,090 

 and Livingston, a little to the west of this region proper, 19,251. 



Long Island, once the seat of a considerable peach-industry, now has 

 but 34,348 trees, 30,333 in Suffolk County and 4,015 in Nassau. There 

 is a large area on the shore of Lake Erie suitable for peaches but land here 

 is mainly planted with grapes; yet Chautauqua County has 32,377 and 

 Erie 10,987 trees. Beside these main and subsidiary peach-regions there 

 are many localities in which peaches are grown for local markets or home 

 use. Peach statistics for the State emphasize strikingly the fact that the 

 peach is a specialist's crop and that it can be grown only in special environ- 

 ments. Thus, compare the figvu-es given for peach-growing counties with 

 these: In two counties in New York there is not a peach-tree; in six counties 



