The Clayton call. (Clayton, Del.) 188?-189?, 1897-07-06
B. { D. B. R. R. CROP
The Best Peaabys Plo0e
the line Of That Road.

Special Agent |. N. Mills, of the Philadel-
phia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, has
made his estimate of the peach crop and his
prediction is that the peach crop of 1897 will
almost be total failure. This is quite a
surprise, as several weeks ago there was a
good prospect for moderate size crop. But
the peaches have nearly all vanished from
the trees, and little closer scrutiny will
find them on the ground where they have
fallen.
The "June drop" this season is the heav-
lest in the history of peach culture on the
Peninsula, and growers who anticipated the
lifting of a mortgage by this crop have had
their hopes blasted, and will now have TO
turn their attention to something else 10
meet the desired end.
The frosts of the early spring damaged
the peaches in the lower part OF the PENN
sula, but still there was prospect for a good
crop. The damage was done by the curculio
and wherever it stings a peach is sure to
fall So numerous have been these destruc-
tive insects that Mr.. Mills noticed in an or
chard near Seaford peach that had thir-
teen stings on it. This orchard is no excep-
ton to the other orchards of the Peninsula.
The cause of the rapid increase of the
curculio is a mystery to the majority Of the
fruit growers; but Mr.. Mills says it is the
fault of the farmers themselves. In 1895
and 1896 there were large crops of peaches,
and the ground under the trees was ejJS-
cred with peaches that had either ..-o5lted and
fell off or were thrown thc;-e as culls and left
to rot. Ipstead Of the growers picking this
aaaaesesE5d fruittup, as is done by the Califor-
nta fruil growers, and either feeding it to
his hogs or get rid of it in some other way,
it was left there for these insects to breed
in, with the consequence that in 1897 there
is an enormous crop of these insects and
they have destroyed the crop of peaches.
The following is the estimate as furnished
by the agents along the lines of the Della
ware Railroad and branches to Mr.. Mills.
This, he thinks, is too high by from one
third to one-lialf:
Delaware Railroad $50 baskets.
Queen Anne & Kent Railroads IS, 400
baskets.
Delaware & Chesapeake Railway-ss,Ss
baskets.
Baltimore & Delaware Bay Railroad
127, $50 baskets
Cambridge & seaford Railroads., $50
baskets.
Delaware, Maryland & Virginia Railroad
-1O7, 6s5 baskets.
Total-537, O75 baskets
The principal shipping points will be Wy
oming, on the Delaware Railroad; Milford
and Selbyville, on the Delaware, Maryland
q Virginia Railroad; East New Market, on
the Cambridge & Seaford Railroad; Ridgely
and Queen Anne, on the Delaware Il Ches-
apeake Railway; Millington and Centre
vile, on the Queen Anne q Kent Railroad
These are the points where the buyers
will be located and they will draw from the
smaller stations.
The only section where there will be
peaches in any quantity will be on the Bal
timore & Delaware Bay Railroad, which
runs from Clayton to Chestertown. This
road runs through the finest peach section
on the Peninsula, but very little OF the fruit
has gone to Philadelphia and other northern
markets in the past, on account Of Balti-
more being so close and the difference in
freight rates so great. The past two seasons
the steamboats, have taken small lots TO
Philadelphia, but the bulk of the crop has
gone to Baltimore.
The estimate of this road is made on what
is likely to be shipped by rail under Ordinary
circumstances, but everything points to a
much larger shipment than the estimate, as
the buyers are most likely to bid for this
fruit the present season, as it will be scarce
at the points where they have been buying
in the past and if they do the amount
shipped will double the estimate. The fol-
lowing is the estimate by stations on this
line.