The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-20

the South have been recently greatly
injured by rot and othe[< Seases. but
the new spray solution. the de-
partment have proved tn alton
of the crop. and there prom. e. be
I, big money IN it.
! Tn connection with peach grow.
! it is interesting to tell how one bO,
made fortune in peaches, and by his
/ own eXertiOnS and study lifted not
only his own family but many others
| to affluence. refer to Hale. the
| Peach King Of Georgia, the man who
! is now at the head of a syndicate
which owns orchards capitalized at a
million dollars or more. and which
/ has shown profits of $4,000 and up
ward year. | don't know how many
hundred thousand peach trees Mr.
! Hale owns. but he has built up a
great peach-growing industry in
southwestern Georgia, and his fruit is
sent in refrigerator cars all over the
4 North. He sometime eS harVeStS a mil
! lion peaches day, each peach belne
! handled three times in sorting. picking
and packing, and he has the most i'm
proved methods of cultivating his trees
and marketing the crop.
! / have just talked with a man who
i knows Hale very well. Said he:
Hale was born near a little town ir
| Connecticut. His father lived on E
farm upon which nothing could bt
raised. not even the mortgage. Hi:
! father was in debt and he died leaving
the farm incumbered to the amour
of $4,000 with only two little boys
Hale and his brother to meet the in
terest and support the family. The.
found they had to hire themselves ou
to keep the farm going, and at twelv'
| years Of age young Hale was cuttin:
corn for his neighbors at a few cent
! a day.
1t was one day during the noon re
cess, when he was tired of handling
corn stalks, that he sat down unde
a seeding peach tree and munchet
the fruit, while he wondered whethe
he should ever be able to pay off tn,
debt and make a man of himself. A.
he did so he looked up at the peache
and thought how fine it would be t
have a few thousand such trees ant
make fortune in fruit. The though
grew upon him, and he decided to try
In one way and another he scrapet
and saved until he had 800 in cash
/ He earned more during the winter
i and in the spring was able to buy 3,O0'
peach trees and plant them out on tn
home farm They grew, and through
his excellent care soon surpassed al
the trees of the neighborhood. H
raised crops between the rows. anC
finally brought the orchard into bear
ing.
Before the fruit was ripe, however
the mortgage came due. and the elder
of the church which held it notified
him he must come in and pay. He pu
them off for a few weeks and rushed
his fruit to. the markets, handling i
so that he got the highest prices. H,
advertised in the Hartford papers. an(
hired StOrerOOmS there for the diSpla.
of his peaches. His profits were sucI
that he soon had more than enough
money in the bank to pay off the mort
cages and leave him a big sum fol
! the future.
Ten-ThOusand- Dollar Crop.
| tHale's first peach harvest in short
netted him about $4,000. This wa.
not known to the churchmen unit
he came in and said:
Well. gentlemen. I have come tc
arrange about that note.
But young man, we don't know
that we can extend it, said one of the
deacons You boys have been very ex.
travagant in selling your peaches. anC
we can't afford to lose this money
But said young Hale, You DON
need to lose the money. l have come il
to pay the note.
have the money to pay we would jus
as lief let it run. We will have to put
the money elsewhere. You had better
keep it. ALI We want Is our interest.
=" No. indeed replied Hale. Il have
the money and / am going to get rid OF
that mortgage. And he thereupOn paid
the note.
The next year" continued this man
i Hale set out more peaches. He culti-
waited and fertiliZed his orchard and he
DrOyed that fruit could be made profit
able in Connecticut. In 1889 he made
$4,000 out of one crop from thirty
five acres and he gave such a stimu-
ms to peach growing in New England
that there are now something like 3
10000 trees in Connecticut. while
there ara many in the adjoining States