Middletown transcript., 1891-09-10
The Board of Trade and the Peach
MaPIraf
COMMuNIcArrn

VIZ so"u auu tIclnlIy, looked ABOUT u
discover how the attention Of business
'' men could be most easily attracted to
the advantages of this place, and very
u naturally saw the promise of good
. fruit crops.
y at once they determined to invite
s. all persons interested in the produc-
IS tion, transportation or selling of fruit
It to assemble at Middletown to consider
o what should be done to advance their
o material interests. This invitation
i was readily appreciated and accepted
J. by growers of the adjoining counties of
: Delaware and Maryland, but gentle
i men of this vicinity who were largely
9 interested were +" conspicuous by their
absence" AS soon as the meeting
was called to order and the gentlemen
in attendance were welcomed by the
President of the Board of Trade the
entire proceedings were committed to
those interested in the business for
which they had assembled and the
Board of Trade had nothing to do Nth
the proceedings.
A careful scrutiny of the gentlemen
in attendance failed to discover the
representatives of the several transpor-
tatlon companies who had intimated |
| they would be present. Reports were
called as to the prospect Of the coming
fruit crop and the statement of reliable
growers established the promise of |
large crops of peaches, pears and
apples-since verified-also, that the
berry crops had been large and
prices satisfactory. Nor were the re-
ports confined to the Peninsula, but
also from almost every fruit section
accessible to Peninsula growers, so
that the report Of the convention gave
to all growers the facts as they then ec-
listed, viz: That there was then the
prospect of fruit crop second only to
that Of 1875, and various estimates
were given ranging from three to six
millions of baskets Of peaches. The
newspapers of the country at once gave
publicity to these statements made by
practical fruit gropers, and dealers
made arrangements to handle the fruit
largely. p.
After few weeks some of the same
newspapers were publishing the total :
failure Of the Peninsula fruit crop and :
the dying condition of the orchards" I" I
and the false statement was, if possi-
BILE, more extensively circulated than
the correct report of the 18th of June,
and certainly made more sensational.
The weather became showery and n
warm and there never was a more =
favorable season for the development =
of the large crop Of unsurpassed quail "
ity. Orchards having trees considered 81
$ premature " showed green foliage, W
but growers picked and sent to market u
unripe and unhealthy fruit, as if to Al
corloborate the sensational newspaper cf
statements of general failure" RI
This statement was made and proven 10
70 far as they could prove fallacy
~ the character of the early unripe bu
ruit sent forward as samples of what SCI
would be the crop. Of course the an
fleet was to demoralize their mar FOL
tets, and the shippers know that the PEI
onsignees became alarmed and early ari
n July made tours of the peach dis sh'
riots to examine the orchards and to an
9 convinced that peaches would be of ret
uperior quality when the time of ripe H. ule
'g came. The disastrous misstate- wo
rents, however, did their work, and up'
callers upon whom commission mer- est
lants relied for buyers, betook them it,
lives to other points in other sections,
here the premature +" ghost was
ot seen or faunted before them. AT
lis period of good fruit the weather bai
as rainy and atmosphere very humid. Dro
I'd of course the fruit rapidly decayed ono
ID though picked hard was not de- l. 1
'ered to the consignees in merchant rece
lie condition and inst haro tbo all beir
ad officials, perhaps, can rise and 70
plain why, when it was most essen. Defe
! that the latest possible hour for MOI
Iding and shortest possible time for was
livery be given the fruit shippers, VINO
1t the railroad officials required and eo T.
npelled the shippers to close their the
8 at such unreasonably early hours DOW
from this station refused to tran. that
rt fruit II not ready by 2.30 P. NJ. hea
This arbitrary and unnecessary t1ur
edule required one of two plans. thes'
st, to abandon the picking Of the pene
ches; second, to pick the fruit were
ier atmospheric condition antagon- Judg
G to its standing up" at pahy
It twenty-four hours heYora its al
Dpinp and growers ,vara ,o,i.,oa cult
t the railroads would consult only resei
ir own convenience in the moves
1t Of the Peninsula products. To
,,,od.to ,,,o ~, In
1uOuotO lHC CIOp W SuCil = CZdr :,
edicts the growers, even at this .''o
ion, picked their fruit the after 's0us
n of the day before shipping, al S'on
ing it to stand in baskets over the "nu
ry night, culled it on the early 'De
ming thereafter and hauled and 'sott'
ped by $50 O'Clock p. NJ. so"'' M
his fruit scheduled to leave this ee"'e
ion at this early hour for Jersey pen0
was often delivered to consignees ~ ~ !
ersey City as late as O'Clock A. '"0 =
I the second day after being picked, w.
gh the rail carriage was but 152 p"e"
s and the time consumed Ito ac- D."'
plish the certain destruction of the = no
h) was often eighteen and one '""'
hours. The frGit being shu: up 49, o 49,
W