Evening star., 1901-07-30
THE MARYLAND PEACH CROP
PROSPECT THAT TT WILL he SHORT
THIS. YEAR.
Growers Are Thinnfng Out Their
Orchards and Using Better
Methods in Cultivation.

Orchards and listing Better
Methods In Cultivation.
| From the Baltimore American.
| Maryland peaches are beginning to ar
| rive at Light street wharf. though In small
| quantities. The crop IL backward this
! year. as. indeed. are all good things grown
| on the eastern shore and in Anne Arundel
| county.
| Peaches. watermelons and cantaioupes
| will soon begin to come with rush. and
the prices will be so moderate that the
| good things will be within the reach Of all.
| The peach crop this year Is not as large
! by one-half as the crop of last year. though
| there will be enough to meet the general
| demand. No calculations are made by the
| steamboat companies as to the yield In
| the sections between which and the city
| the steamers ply. The Delaware railroad.
| however, makes q careful estimate each
year of the probable yield. Special agent
| l. N. Mills OF the Delaware road. places
| this years yield In the sections reached
by the road and its branches at 100000
Thinning the Trees.
The estimate of last years crop was A.
100000 baskets. so 1t will be Seen that the
crop this year, under the most favorable
| conditions. will not be over a half crop.
| though better prices will prevail. and the
] grower will have a better chance to make
| money out OF his crop this season than
| last. The number OF trees on the peninsula
has increased a few thousand by the set
| ting out OF new orchards. and the increase
| would have been heavy were 1t not for the
| fact that hundreds Of orchards have been
| pulled UP. The ''yeilows have been par
ticularly severe in Kent county. Maryland
once the center Of the peach belt. and the
farmers were losing money by allowing
| their farms to be taken up with unhealthy
trees. which brought them no profit. and
ruined the market fer good fruit.
The peaches this year, from present indi-
cations, will be of good size and quality
| In some sections where the trees are un-
! usually full. the growers are thinning them
| something that has never been done be-
| fore. and will no doubt add much to the
| size and flavor OF the fruit.
The Crop EIsewhere.
A generation ago the Delaware and
| Maryland peninsula was the center OF the
peach-growing industry Of the world. It
| no longer has that distinction. The peach
| tree exhausts the soil so thoroughly that
new orchards will not thrive where the
| old orchards stood. In addition, the ''yel-
lows" San Jose scale and other pests have
devastated thousands upon thousands Of
trees and have SO thoroughly discouraged
the peach growers that they have not set
| out orchards upon extensive scales. as for
merly.
In other sections OF the country 1t has
been found that peaches can be grown with
| profit, and with the result that they are
about as universal now as corn and wheat.
placed at 75.OOO.O00 bushels.
The prolonged drouth In some parts Of
| the country has affected 1t somewhat, but
not to any great extent. and the hot
weather of July has helped to atone for the
backward summer In developing the fruit.
Finer peaches and larger quantity Of
! them to the acre are being produced every
year, and this Is due not only to careful
| tilage and cultivation, but also to a thin
| ming of the fruit when 1t first appears on
| the trees. The old-fashioned peach-grower
! would have thought 1t sheer lunacy to cut
of three-fourths OF the peaches just as
| they were beginning to develop Yet 1t is
| by just that method that more bushels Of
peaches are now being produced from the
not interfered with. and the fruit Is i'm
proved and brings higher price.
Profitable Economy.
Another important point about thinning
| out the fruit Is that as a result Of the
operation only one-fourth Of the usual num-
| Der OF peachstones Is produced. and as the
developments Of these Is the greatest drain
| upon the vitality OF the trees, a profitable
economy is effected and regularity Of yield
from season to season Is promoted.
| The peach came from China originally,
and reached Europe by way Of Persia. and
America by way of England and Holland.
The peace season now has been greatly
| heightened by the shipments to our mar
| kets in refrigerator cars. sent at express
speed, Of southern and California peaches
Immense tracts in Georgia are now solely
occupied by peach orchards. single one
Of which will pack and ship more than
5000 boxes OF peaches day in July. which
is the height of the peach season down
there.
Scientific gardeners are trying to intro
L drnn int fo fru of oh
growing methods OF France and England.
which produce wonderful peaches, though
| few. Over there peach trees are usually
trained fiat against wall with southern
exposure or on a trellis foot or so away
from such a wall. and only few branches
| of each tree are allowed to grow.
Peaches ON the Peninsula
Peach-growing on the Maryland and Del
aware peninsula dates back to 1912, when
| the first orchard was planted by Mr..
Reeves a farm within a mile Of Della
ware City. which is situated at the east
end of the Delaware and Chesapeake canal.
New Jersey was then growing peaches sue
luxury In eastern markets. Owing to the
scarcity OF the fruit. growers realized enor-
nous profits far beyond any now received.
| It was no unusual thing for them to get
| $50 per basket in the orchard.
Major Reybold. who owned and operated
large orchards on the shores Of the Della
ware bay, conceived the idea OF striking
New York direct. and in 1852, with this OBJ
| ject In view. he built two special steamers
Major Reybold attended to the selling OF
the fruit In person. and on one occasion.
| when arriving In New York with a cargo.
prices were not as high he thought they
| should be, and. rather than sell. he put to
| sea and dumped the whole load. He met
better luck, however. with his next cargo
which. it Is said, more than made up his
loss
In 1873 It was estimated that there were
over $1,000 acres OF bearing orchards on
the peninsula. From 100000 to 4,OOO.OO
baskets were shipped, and thousands of
bushels were canned. preserved and dried.
About this time the first signs of decay.
betokening the lack OF proper cultivation.
showed themselves In a yellow tfnge of the
leaves and withering OF the young stems.
This disease. known as the yellows, soon
played havoc with the orchards In the up
per sections. and the center Of peach cul-
ture gradually moved southwark until 1t
centered around Bridgeville. Del, and
Ridgely, Md, and to these points have been
transferred the scenes of activity and bus