VOL.  LX XV. 
No.  4:  ISO. 
Picking,"  Packing  and  Shipping  Peaches 
Beginning  With  the  New  Jersey  Crop 
Part  T. 
HE  SEASON’S  PROSPECTS.— The  peach  sea¬ 
son  in  the  Eastern  Atlantic  States  will  soon  be 
at  hand.  The  heavy  crop  production  in  1915,  the 
demoralized  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  market 
and  the  low  prices 
are  still  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  the  grow¬ 
ers.  Many  have 
looked  forward  to 
1910  with  the  hope  of 
a  good  crop  and  good 
prices  to  return 
them  a  fair  profit 
upon  the  two  sea¬ 
son's  work.  Winter 
and  early  Spring 
weather  conditions 
have  already  reduced 
the  set  of  fruit  so 
that  the  yield  of 
1  teaches  In  general 
will  he  considerably 
below  that  of  1915. 
The  injury  to  the 
buds  in  Winter  var¬ 
ied  widely  according 
to  the  location  and 
elevation  of  the  or¬ 
chard.  There  was 
also  a  marked  dif¬ 
ference  in  the  amount 
of  injury,  according 
to  the  variety.  Such 
sorts  as  Elbe  rta, 
w  h  i  c  h  start  into 
growth  easily  during 
warm  periods,  suf¬ 
fered  the  most.  How¬ 
ever,  there  will  be  a 
good  crop  of  peaches 
throughout  New  Jer¬ 
sey.  with  full  crops 
of  Elbert  a  in  some 
orchards.  The  set  of 
fruit  upon  such  va¬ 
rieties  as  C  a  r  m  a  n 
and  Lola  will  need 
thinning  in  many  in¬ 
stances.  There  are 
individual  growers  in 
the  State  who  were 
so  unfortunate  as  to 
have  practically  their 
entire  crop  destroyed 
in  the  Winter.  A 
severe  hail  stor m 
also  did  great  dam¬ 
age  to  some  orchards 
in  C  u  mberland 
County,  N.  J.,  early 
in  June. 
EARLY  VARIE¬ 
TIES. — The  season  of 
marketing  is  now  at 
hand,  since  a  few 
Mayflower  and  Maule 
will  be  ready  for 
m  a  rket  the  first 
week  iu  July.  Greens¬ 
boro  begins  to  ripen 
about  July  17th  to  20th  in  southern  New  Jersey, 
and  August  1st  heavy  shipping  of  Carman  begins. 
•  MARKETING  PLANS.— The  marketing  question 
iais  been  thoroughly  discussed  during  the  past  Win¬ 
ter  months.  The  need  now  is  for  each  grower  to 
plan  out  his  campaign  for  the  season.  It.  is  too  late 
to  begin  to  make  plans  after  the  rush  of  picking, 
A  Picking  Harness  Enables  One  to  Use  Both  Hands.  Fig.  371 
packing  and  shipping  is  on.  In  deciding  as  to  how 
jour  fruit  can  best  he  marketed  first  study  the  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  all  possible  local  markets,  and  especially 
with  reference  to  the  disposal  of  soft  or  second- 
grade  fruit,  for  in  spite  of  the  best  of  management 
one  is  likely  to  have  a  certaiu  amount  of  such  fruit 
to  sell.  It  may  not  pay  to  ship  this  fruit  by  rail 
to  be  sold  wholesale, 
and  yet  it  will  re¬ 
turn  a  fair  profit  if 
it  can  be  disposed  of 
locally.  A  great  mis¬ 
take,  however,  is  to 
overrate  the  possibil¬ 
ities  of  the  local 
market  and  not  to 
provide  for  taking 
advantage  of  other 
channels  of  distribu¬ 
tion. 
SUPPLY  AND  DE¬ 
MAND.— T  h  e  num¬ 
ber  of  trees  planted 
■within  hauling  dis¬ 
tance  of  any  local 
market  varies  from 
time  to  time,  and  the 
grower  needs  to  keep 
informed  of  a  b  out 
the  quantity  of  fruit 
that  is  likely  to 
be  placed  upon  his 
local  market  each 
year.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  w  hat 
happened  in  1912, 
1913  or  1914,  but 
what  is  likely  to  oc¬ 
cur  in  1916.  Where- 
ever  the  quantity  of 
fruit  grown  is  much 
greater  than  the  lo¬ 
cal  market  cau  dis¬ 
pose  of  profitably 
shipments  to  the 
large  markets  must 
be  made. 
!  TRANSPOR¬ 
TA  T  I  O  N.  —  There 
are  numerous  ways 
by  which  fruit  is  de-j 
livered  to  more  dis-j 
taut  markets,  includ¬ 
ing  auto  true  lc  s, 
boats  and  by  rail. 
The  former  are  com¬ 
ing  into  very  general 
use  and  permit  of 
ra  pid  tra  asportation 
of  large  quantities  of 
fruit  to  a  consider¬ 
able  distance.  I  n 
many  cases,  how¬ 
ever,  the  railroad  is 
the  only  means  of 
reaching  a  distant 
market.  Where  such 
is  the  c  a  s  e,  one 
should  immediately 
-ascertain  the  freight 
rates  upon  peaches 
between  the  points  of 
production  and  the 
point  of  proposed 
sale.  It  Is  also  irn- 
A  Good  Type  of  Step-ladder  for  Peach  Picking.  Fig.  370’ 
