Tree numbers 







Peaches 





Pears 





Year 



Apricots 1 





























Clingstone 



Freestone 



Bon Chretien 





Other 





1,000 



1,000 



1,000 



1,000 





1,000 





trees 



trees 



trees 



trees 





trees 



1952 . . 



3,366 



1,602 



869 



464 





521 



1955 . . 



3,218 



1,733 



735 



572 





629 



1957 . . 



3,272 



2,149 



686 



2 715 



s 



712 



1961 . . 



- 



- 



- 



793 





784 



1964 . . 



- 



2,924 



239 



- 





- 



1966 . . 



1,534 



3,088 



231 



862 





879 



Controlled area of CAPB. 

 1958. 



The total number of trees of the four canning fruits (apricots, cling and freestone peaches, and Bon 

 Chretien pears) fell from 6.3 million (approximately 51,000 acres) in 1952 to 5.7 million (49,000 acres) in 1966. 

 The decline in the number of apricot and freestone peach trees more than offset the rise in cling and Bon Chretien 

 pear trees. 



Numbers of bearing and nonbearing trees 



Fruit 



Non-bearing 



Bearing 



Non-bearing 



Bearing 



2 



Peaches: 2 



Freestone. . . 

 Pears: 



Bon Chretien . 

 Other 



1,000 1,000 



trees trees Percent Percent 



339 1,195 22 78 



980 2,108 32 68 

 16 215 7 93 



271 591 31 69 

 310 569 35 65 



Apricots and peaches, 4 years and older; pears, 9 years and older. 



Controlled area of CAPB. 



Cling peach plantings had been made at a very high rate until 1966. They averaged 245,000 trees per year in 

 1963-66 compared with an average of 136,000 removals or dead trees in 1965-66. There are indications that this rate 

 of plantings continued into 1967, stimulated by the demand from canners for additional fruit. A sharp drop in 

 grower prices the following year, however, may well have dampened the rate of plantings and hastened tree removals 

 in 1968. 



The tempo of plantings of canning (Bon Chretien) pears has definitely slackened from the high level 

 attained in the 1950's. During those years, plantings generally averaged between 55,000 and 75,000 trees per year. 

 They have since declined to 25,000 - 45,000. Less attractive returns, and competition for available land from apples 

 and pears for the fresh market have probably been the key factors behind the decreased rate. Apple tree numbers 

 have increased sharply in the Western Cape and Langkloof from 2.2 million trees in 1952 to over 4.1 million in 

 1966. Forty-five percent of the apple trees in 1966 were under 9 years of age. 



The area in apricot trees has been receding rapidly in recent years because of the decline in the Royal 

 variety. Dead or uprooted trees were more than double total plantings in 1966. The canning freestone peach sector 

 has also been a recessive one and now borders on the brink of extinction. Plantings totaled only 5,100 trees in 

 1965-66, compared with removals of 43,000. 



Bearing cling peach trees averaged 111 per acre and apricots 134 per acre in 1966. A spacing of 20' x 20' is 

 most common in peach orchards. The bulk of the pear trees have been planted at 20' x 20' and 18' x 18'. The num- 

 ber of trees per acre averaged 1 10 in 1966. 



