The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-27
COLD AND PEACHES
SCOTT REPORTS UPON THE CONDI-
TION or THE CROP
IN NORTH GEORGIA is RUIN.
THE FARTHER SOUTH, THE BET
TER THE PROSPECTS.

state EntOmOIOGist Gives His Oh
servatiOn of Conditions Hardly
an Orchard North of Atlanta That
Will Turn Out IA Crate of Peaches.
Extent of the Damage in the Cen
trail SectiOn-In the Albany Sec
ton the Damage is but Slight.
Views on the Prospects.
Atlanta, Feb 26.-State Entomologist
w. M. Scott, who has just concluded an
investigation of the fruit situation, de-
clares the entire peach crop of North
Georgia is a wreck, and that there is
hardly an orchard north of Atlanta that
will turn out crate of peaches his
season.
His statement is the result of per-
sonal investigation and reports from
the peach-growing counties OF the
northern parts of the state. II have
quite large orchard near Austell my
self" he said, 80 you may be sure
1 have looked into the matter pretty
thoroughly. l do not expect to get a
crate of peaches off my entire place.
Il have personally inspected the or
chards of Cobb and Habersham coun-
ties, and l have received reports from
around Dalton and other peach-gro
ing sections of North Georgia, and I
am satisfied that beyond all question,
there is practically nothing left of the
North Georgia crop"
In south Georgia
The situation in the South Georgia
peach-growing districts according to
Mr.. Scott, is much more hopeful, though
great deal of damage was done there.
I'm the Fort Valley and Marshallville
section" Mr.. Scott said. "the reports
show that about so to 30 per cent. of
the buds of the Belle of Georgia, one
of the main varieties, were killed. The
loss of the Elbertas was not so great
being about 70 per cent. and the de-
struction of the buds of the Carman,
Waddell and other varieties was about
so per cent.
This does not mean that there will
be no crop in this section, on the other
| hand. If % per cent. Of the buds can be
carried through to maturity, a good
| crop is the result. The only difficulty
now is danger of further cold weather,
and from the curculio and other ene-
mics of the peach before 1t reaches
| maturity. With careful handling and
no further cold weather of sufficient
intensity to effect the crop. this sec
ton will probably show good results
this season.
Further South, around Albany, Syi-
vester and Triton, the damage to the
peaches was even slighter The reason
the North Georgia section suffered so
much more severely is because the tenn
persture was very much lower in that
section of the state, and the buds were
almost as far advanced as were those
in South Georgia.
Commissioner of Agriculture o. B.
Stevens was in Savannah yesterday
and discussed the condition of the
peach trees in Georgia. He stated that
the reports he has received from over
the state lead him to believe that the
crop will be very short
In North Georgia the trees suffered
very much from the recent freeze and
large part of the fruit was killed.
In South Georgia the damage was not
so great, but Mr.. Stevens figures that
there will hardly be more than a half
crop even in this section. He says that
the damage would not have been so
great had it not been for the fact that
there was heavy rain just before the
freeze. Many of the cups on the trees
were filed with water which after
wards froze. This fruit was killed, and
that which will come out all right was
in the cups that were turned over as
they hung on the trees Thew of