8 BULLETIN 298, U. $. 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 im 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 
ereatly 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 peach 
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 this year, compared with a final estimate last year 
of 54,109,000 bushels. 
Jehan 
re , 
