8 BULLETIN 298, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



EXPLANATION OF MAP. 



The accompanying map (fig. 3) indicates the reported actual car- 

 load shipments of peaches in the season of 1914. Each dot represents 

 from 1 to 5 cars. For example, a county having two dots shipped 

 from 6 to 10 cars, and one having 20 dots from 96 to 100 cars. Me- 

 chanical difficulties have necessitated the grouping of the dots in the 

 county in which the shipping stations are located, although county 

 lines are of no significance as boundaries for shipping areas. In cases 

 where shipments are too heavy to be represented by dots, the counties 

 have been blacked in and the actual number of cars shipped are 

 given in figures. The size of the blackened area is not directly in 

 proportion to the quantity shipped, and in order to make exact com- 

 parisons the tabulation by stations should be consulted. 



The reported dates within which the various areas ship are shown 

 by curved lines, all areas shipping at a given period being grouped 

 in a zone under a line representing that period. The map in this 

 way shows the various competing areas as well as the dates of heaviest 

 crop movement, although these dates are subject to considerable 

 seasonal variation. 



PROSPECTIVE SHIPMENTS FOR 1915. 



Early in the season of 1915, or after the bloom had dropped and 

 the crop had set, estimates were secured of the prospective car-lot 

 shipments for 1915 from 571 shipping points in 28 States. In every 

 case the estimate was furnished by an official of a shipping organiza- 

 tion, by a prominent grower, or by some one specifically interested 

 in the crop. The total shipments from these 571 stations in 1914 

 were 22,877 cars. The estimates made indicated a total of 43,623 

 cars in prospect for 1915, or an increase of 90 per cent. These figures 

 are not presented in detail because "June drops" reduced the pro- 

 spective crop of certain districts while later condition reports to the 

 department indicate that the shipments will not be as heavy as 

 expected in other localities. The fact remains, however, that as 

 this bulletin goes to press it is apparent that no important shipping 

 area, except Colorado, will have a notably decreased output com- 

 pared with last year, while many important districts will have very 

 greatly increased shipments. This is notably true of the Southwest 

 as a whole, of New York, and of the eastern mountain section. 



The Bureau of Crop Estimates reported the condition of the poach 

 crop of the entire United States on July 1 at 73.1 per cent of a normal, 

 as compared with a 10-year average July 1 condition of 56.1 per cent 

 of normal; from which .figures a production forecast is made of 

 58,328,000 bushels (his year, compared with a. final estimate last year 

 of 54,109,000 bushels. 



