The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-05


 pIete failure, the committee reports and only about half a crop in West Virginia.
 Any estimate of the comparative production with the previous years in peaches is said to be of no avail by the peculiar property which this fruit pos sesses of resurrecting itself later in the season after the crop is supposed to have been destroyed. As a matter of fact. there is nothing difficult to estimate in advance as the probable yield of fruit. It is not possible to get the same intelligent idea, of it's condi- don, the committee goes on, may be gathered from the observation of such staple crops ,as corn, cotton wheat and the like, and it takes much experience and often knowledge to gain a correct idea of the true condi- ton.
 The condition of peaches seems to improve progressively from the cen tral west to the east, but as whole is very good in Michigan and Ohio, somewhat better in Pennsylvania, and most excellent in New York, Delaware and Maryland Peaches are a fruit whose yield most of all affects the vo1ume of the canning industry.
 The condition of pears is extremely spotted throughout the country, being like peaches very poor in Kansas, Ok lahoma and most of Missouri, good in the eastern states, and very good in the central west and on the Pacific coast. The outlook is also for a fairly large crop of plums this year, and these have their principal commercial value in the Pacific coast states for use as pruneS.
 Commercial Value of Fruit Crops
 While definite statistics as to the commercial fruit crop as a whole are almost impossible to get, the com rnittee says, the best estimates are that in a year like that which now seems ahead of us, the growers of fruit for comm ercia1 purposes will probably re- like $40O,000,O00 Below are some figures offered by the National Cham Der committee of the production of apples, the leading fruit
 1915 ..., 76.OOO,OOO Barrels i1914 4........... 84,0O0,0O0 1913 .. 4o.OOO,OoO 1912 ......-...-. 7s,0oo,O0O l1911 .... 71,O0O,0O0 1910 ....A... 47,0OO.000 | There is a fairly lafge export of ap- ples both fresh and in their dried state, the committee reports. The es- timated farm value of the apple crop in 1915 in round numbers was some thing like $145, 100000. In years of large yields, the shipments from southern California alone of citrus fruits (oranges, lemons and grape fruit) total 45.00O, 900. In 1915, which was a year of large production 1 in peaches, there were something like j43,O00 carloads for the entire United States, or approximately 64,O0O,O 900 bushels, with an approximate farm value of $54,000,000. The production I of peaches in 1914 was 54,O0O,00 Bushels.
 | Of pears in 1915 the production was 11,oO0. .ooO bushels, the farm value of | the 1914 yield being approximately | $1O,0O0,0OO. It will be seen by a. com parison of the different years that ther is very great difference in the production of all kinds of fruit, the lcommittee points out. This difference 1 is said to be due largely to favorable 1 or unfavorab1e weather, and in a much less degre to the ravages of in sects. Of the production of apples in I1e15-76, 1000 barrels-it is estf- sold from the farm, 6,000,OOO barrels used for cider, 15,O00,O0O barrels con sumed on the farm for human food, and 12,0O0,000. barrels wasted or eat en by live stock. The raising of fruit as a commercial proposition, it is said, grows in importance each year and in an increasing number, of sections throughout the country. It forms the | principal sources of revenue of the 1n- habitants in many parts of the Union. New Railroad Arrangement Facilitates
 Delivery
 Its successful pursuit, the commit tee explains, implies not alone the
 raising of fruit-which involves | knowledge of entomology, meteorolo- ey and cheInistry-but likewise it's marketing which, as science and a business is still in its formative stage. It has become a matter of grave con | cern it is said, requiring intelligent IforethougI1t and administrative eff | cnency, for growers to ship their pro- ducts to those markets that are not already glutted, and where they will command a living price, and to avoid the already congested centers where I supplies are so accumulated that the ! fruit will sometimes not pay for the cost of transportation.
 One of the vital reforms brought about by one of the railroads in 1915 in the southwest, the committee con cludes, was an arrangement whereby the fruit buyers from large concerns i.of the east and north purchased the I fruit f. o. b. the point of delivery to | the railroad and assumed from them on all hazards of transportation and deterioration. The producer was thus II enabled to reckon with accuracy on
 the exact amount he received for, his product at the railroad point of de livery without any further thought as to the question of commission, freight
 charges and the like, With the steady growth of this great industry ) wb ich has become one of the most in ttelifgent branches of agriculture, we are likewise increasing our export: I and finding new markets abroad, is the final word of the National Cham Der committee.
 Since the report was compiled there , has been severe damage by frost ano . freezing to fruit in most of the Rock! Mountain states, the principal damage [ being in southern Idaho where nearly , lau the fruit was practically ruined, il II IItah where half of the growing croI was destroyed. and also severe dam . age in portions of eastern Oregon ana eastern Washington.
 DtIII nINn NnTEc