THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 10 1 



Shore of Maryland, marketed 3,500,000 baskets. The late Col. Wilkins, 

 on Chester river, Kent county, Maryland, had 1350 acres in with peach 

 trees, numbering 137,000, producing in bearing years from $30,000 to 

 $40,000 annually." 



Commercial peach-growing in the South is of recent development — 

 its history is known to all pomologists of the present generation. It began 

 in the seventies, the impetus being given by the introduction of a number 

 of early, bright-colored, very showy peaches that could be marketed in 

 northern cities in May and June. It took years, however, to develop means 

 to send these peaches to market and it was not until in the nineties that the 

 perfection of refrigerator cars and rapid transportation was such that the 

 southern crop cut any figure in the peach-markets. The introduction 

 of the Elberta in the seventies may be said to be another stone in the founda- 

 tion of the peach-industry in the South. After Georgia became a factor 

 in the culture of this fruit in America in the nineties, the State was followed 

 in lesser degree by South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and 

 Texas. In most of these southern states the peach-orchard is so near the 

 cotton-plantation — often the two are interplanted — that the owners 

 rob Peter to pay Paul in the care of the two crops. But this is not always 

 the case, and at its best the southern peach-orchard is the consummate 

 flower of modem commercial peach-growing. 



The peach-industry in Connecticut is a recent development, as in the 

 South. As late as 1880 the crop was negligible in the State; in 1889, 

 37,295 bushels were grown; 61,775 ^^ 1899; and 417,918 bushels in 1909. 

 This, considering the smallness of the State and the very uneven surface 

 of much of it, is a rather remarkable development. Winter-killing, which 

 takes place about one winter out of four, is the chief drawback but the high 

 prices received from nearby markets make the peach, despite the occasional 

 off-year, a profitable crop. Connecticut peaches are characterized by large 

 size, bright color and good quality. From Connecticut the industry has 

 spread into Massachusetts where all conditions are essentially the same. 



Peach-growing in New York has never been spectacular. Along the 

 lower Hudson before the Civil War and again a decade after it there was a 

 thriving pqach-industry such as there was in New Jersey and Delaware. 

 A peach-industry is first of all dependent on quick transportation — the 

 fruit must move. This meant in early days that there must be nearby 

 markets and water transportation — -western New York had the latter 

 but not the former. Peaches, however, were early grown, in fact, as we 



