MARYLAND WEATHER SERVICE 'Ml 



in the Coastal Zone by his contracts for tomatoes knows his possible 

 income in advance, and does not have to seek an uncertain market. 

 The contracting feature does not assume so prominent a factor in 

 regard to the pea and corn canning, but in each of these there is 

 a nearby market assured the producer who supplies the canning fac- 

 tory. The chief corn canning area is in the central Midland Zone, 

 the other two crops, tomatoes and peas, are characteristic of the 

 warmer soils of the Coastal. 



Baltimore being a market centre draws upon distant as well as 

 local sources of supply. This is noticeable in the canning industry. 

 Peaches form an important part of the year's output from the city 

 factories, the fruit being either consigned to the canneries, or bought 

 in the open market. Strawberries are not regularly canned to an im- 

 portant degree, but at times of glutted markets they are so treated. 

 A modification of ordinary canning is found in the preparation of 

 fruit juices for use in summer drinks. Much of the strawberry fruit 

 juice so used is secured in the Baltimore markets through the can- 

 ning factories. 



Apples and vegetables, such as sweet potatoes and beans, are put 

 up under special conditions, but such special lines have not been 

 developed much beyond the point of filling in otherwise idle time 

 between regular crops. 



The relative acreage in canning crops in the several counties may 

 be seen from the map on the opposite page. It serves also for a 

 trucking map, as the two industries are closely related in their 

 development. 



Fruits. 



In the earlier days of fruit growing the Eastern Shore joined as 

 one agricultural unit in the production of the "Delaware Peaches" 

 which still figure largely in the markets of the upper Atlantic cities 

 and in the adjacent interior regions. Much of the actual peach 

 production however has been transferred from the Coastal Zone 

 to the Midland, and is even passing beyond into the Mountain Zone 

 area, in the latter case beyond the limits of our discussion into West 

 Virginia. The incurable disease of the peach known as "Yellows" 

 is largely responsible for the shifting of the peach industry, as when 



