Evening journal., 1907-08-21
PEACH CROP is
SHORT THIS YEAR
Luscious Fruit Has Not Been
So Scarce in IS
Years

FIulltIoWHIsf NNilNilaNlNA lilNANA-
ants. canners. spectators and con-
sumers Of the Delaware and Mary
land Peninsula are bewaiiing the
shortest peach crop in 10 years. Fruit
which at this time last year sold for
si.25 bushel, is now in demand al
prices ranging from 81 TO 81. and there
IS small chance that the majority Of
orders will be filled
The orcharcs OF Maryland, Della
ware and New Jersey. which are de-
pended upon to supply the Eastern
markets. have reported no more than
? per cent of the usual crop. and In
only one section of pcachgrowlng
district that extends from Connecti-
cut TO Alabama is a crop as great MS
co per cent. of the normal reported I'm
Michigan and Ohio.-whore the peach
acreage is so great thar il can usually
be relied upon TO supply the Eastern
markets in lean years along the At
lantc Coast. a crop that win not
equal one-fourth of that gathered last
wear win be the result of the seasons
work.
Frost is Blamed.
This dearth Of reaches IS blamed
impartially upon frost. lazy wintor,
and tho eccentricities OF peach ORCH
ards for which no one has yet given
a plausible explanation. on the
Eastern shore of Maryland thcre have
been numerous Instances of wcr-
tended. much-nurtured orchards Yield
Ing practically nothing, while small
tree clusters. which the grower fo'f .u
no time 20 encourage. have come "a
highly satisfactory fruit'cn. Also, the
hard-dying winter ane the late frosls
have made tier solves felt in the
quality of fe peach Yield. and frpit
that is bringing unusually high prices
IS. with few exceptions. hard and
small.
Within the past few years there
have been seasons when the orchards
of the Eastern Shore and Delaware
have furnished peaches not only 20
Baltimore and Philadelphia, but
throughout New York State as we'll
and with such recollections Of plenty
Il is not strange that the growers
look uDon the present one-twentioth
Of cron as n famine Where last
wear. from such peach stations as
Bridgeville and Wyoming, Delaware,
daily shipments amounted 10 80 car
loads. that number represents genor-
ouslv the OUTPUT of the whole season.
while one other station which sent out
$50 carloads last year win not check
up more than S5 at the utmost
Scarce in Mountains.
From the great Western orchards
the reports are equally discouraginp.
Michigan, which upon occasion has
supplied the entire Eastern market,
has never known so poor season.
From the district between Grand
RAPIDS and Chicago. where Il has been
the habit 70 ship $50 cars of peaches
a dav. the entire seasons product IS
expected TO amount TO about 100 car
loads. SO sparse has been the crop in
that region that the railroads have
gone TO little trouble TO prepare for its
transportation. and refrigerated fruit
cars on the road have become a COM
paratively rare sight.
The mountain peaches. which have
heretofore been a feature product OF
West Virginia. Western Maryland and
parts of Pennsylvania. are not sufh-
GENTLY numerous this season 20 at
tract attention. and the poachgrowers
along the Hudson river and in Con-
necticut report nothing as their cror
for the wear
The famine. according 10 the fruit
speculator. has affected not only the
peach crop; other fruits have suffer-
ed as we'll The pear crop is remark
ably short and poor. For years no
orchards have been so prolific as the
Keifer pears Of Maryland, Delaware
and New Jersey. This season the
crop amounts TO practically nothing