Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-05-07
THE pENlNSuLAR PEACH.
They are Trino singed by the Frost Du
Not Seriously Damaged--Crop outiool
Good,

lTlC TENiNOULhi TLHUli'
They are Trife singed by the Frost Bu,
Not Seriously Damaged--Crop Outlook
Good.
EAsToN, MD, May Mot for many
years have Talbot farmers and fruit
growers been in as good heart and as
hopeful of prosperous year as they are
now. The advance in the price OF
grain, which puts wheat and corn where
they can be grown at u profit, has much
to do with this hopeful feeling, They
think it necessary and permanent and
not speculative rise. Then the out
look for crop of all kinds Of fruit in
Talbot county-peaches especially--is
as good as il can be at this time, and
there is no apprehension now of blight
ing frosts.
Judge L. S. Valiant of Church Hill,
Queen Anne's county, right in the cen
tire of the peach belt on the shore, and
who has exceptional opportunities to
know all about it, says the outlook in
Queen Anne's-and in Kent as far as
his observation in that county goes-for
large crop of the best fruit in peach
orchards is good enough now. What
Judge Valiant says about Kent is cor
roborated by Mr.. w. Usiton, who ex-
poets Kent county this year to have a
peach crop that will more than make
good the losses caused by last years
failure In crops, Mr.. DeKalb Smith
says that in the Kent peach orchards at
least 75 per cent of the young peaches
on the trees to-day must fall off TO make
good crop. If all stay on the fruit
would not be larger than hickory nuts.
The June fall will take care Of this
phase.
Col. James II. Douglass Of Preston,
Caroline county, in which county the
"peach centre is now stationary, says
every indication points to the largest
crop of peaches Caroline ever harvested.
Col. Elbridge s. Johnson, the presi-
dent of the Choptank Steamboat Com
pany, says that on the rivers and creeks
his steamers traverse everybody is con
tident of big peach crop. This en-
braces both sides of the Choptank, in
Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline coun.
ties, as far us Mcdford's wharf and
Windy Hill, tile Third Haven river, Sec
rotary creek and lie Complies bay.
Mr.. Isaac IL. Wright, larger nur-
seryman and peach-grower, believes in
the large proportions of the coming
crops. He is at East New Market, in the
best peach section Of Dorchester.
Senator John Walter Smith OF
Worcester county, says the frost has Sc
verely injured the peach buds in the
part Of the county he is most familiar
with. Worcester is not now large
peach growing county as whole, while
it has some of the most certain and pro-
ductiVe orchards that can be found on
the peninsula.
Frank G. Wrightson, Sherwood, Tai
bot county, says the prospect now for a
crop OF peaches is larger than living trees
have ever produced. He fears there
may be such an overproduction that the
trees i'll many orchards will be ruined
young trees particularly, that should
have borne fruit last year and the wear
before were then barren, being frost
bitten. Mr.. Wrightson's peach orchards
are on the salt water, where the blooms
come later and are in less danger from
frosts. There is not single expression
Of fear from any part Of peach-growing
Delaware about the crop at this time.
The wheat acreage in Talbot is smaller
this year than it has been since 1882, buV
there is enough land seeded to wheat
with fair yield, and the present price
to make agricultural profit enough to
pay the interest on the farm mortgages
and from one-seyenth to one-tenth OF
the principal, leaving the profits in
fruit, Indian corn and hay clear. The
mills, with the latest process methods
Of manufacturing -four, have made a
home demand for wheat that is helpful
in the local market. The Talbot county
mills are now buying grain on the ex
changes in Baltimore, Philadelphia and
Chicago.