Milford chronicle., 1926-08-27
ELAWARE PEACH COMING BACK
YELLOWS NO LONGER A MENACE
pes Still The Best Crop, Explains Frank C. Bancroft Widely
Known Orchard; Sees Prosperity Ahead; Old Varieties Of
Peaches Must Be Abandoned For Harder MdseasOn Kinds

The Delaware peach is coming
ack-is we'll on the way-accordlng
Frank C. Bancroft, whose Ever
reen Farm near Wyoming includes
ne largest and most productive or
hards in Kent county.
Most other Delaware orchardlsts
ave sensed the same fact and are
urning again to the fruit that made
he little Diamond State famous. Mr..
Bancroft backs up his own faith IN
he statement that Delaware is again
% become the home of the best pea
ches grown in this country, with an
orchard of 25 acres, the trees OF
which are bending and breaking un-
der their great lOads-as fine fruit as
was ever raised in this State. He
points across his fields to neigh
bor's orchard, which also is loaded
to the collapsing point with yellow
fruit. 1t will yield 100 carloads this
season and the fruit will be equal to
that raised in the good old days IN
Delaware when the peach was king.
This neighbor, H. c. Richardson,
came to Wyoming from Canada, and
seeing the splendid opportunities for
cultivating fruits set out large or
chard and is thriving amazingly.
YellOWs Have Been VanquiShed
Asked about the ".yellows" which
DESTROYED almost all the peach or
chards in the upper part of the State
years ago, Mr.. Bancroft explained
that this pest was not feared any
more. He admitted that while the ex-
periments and observations of scien-
fists and orchardists had failed to
uncover the source of the yellows or
to prescribe any sure remedy, these
investigations had let in much light
on the infection that the farmer
could take care of the yellows and
thwart them before they could do
much damage.
Mr.. Bancroft admits that the dis
ease makes it's temperance in
neach orchards occasionally still,
but it is easy to check if the tree IS
dug I'D and destroyed, and not simp-
ly cut down, as they were formerly
disposed of.
A tour through large part OF the
peach belt in Kent county few days
ago. failed to reveal a single case OF
vellows and talks with some OF the
farmers showed they shared Mr..
Bancroft's opinion that yellows had
ceased to be a serious menace to or
chardists now that it was somewhat
understood and the way to handle
affected trees generally known.
Must Raise Hardy Peaches
In predicting the return of the
peach as one of the chief products OF
delaware soil, Mr.. bancroft WarAe-'
that the mistakes of the earlier
growers must be avoided. In the first
nlace he declares we must raise fruit
here that will stand UP under the
whiting experience Of shipping ano
hot weather. He also declared that II
would be best to produce peaches
that ripen in midseason, and as
showing how he values the different
varieties for the purpose, he report
ed planting a half of his 25 acres IL
Haies. a fourth in Elbertas and an
canal area in Brackets. These ne
has found will ripen at the time Io
give Delaware the benefits Of an un'
crowded market-in normal seasons
before the strongest rival states
are shipping their fruit. The old
time peaches Of our fathers ana oul
grandfathers have run out he nnus
bv experiments, and urges growers
to be careful and avoid them. MT
bancroft declares with the yelloWS
harmless and the adoption OF new
varieties of fruit there is no reason
WHY the Delaware peach should noI
again dominate the market.
lust what increase of acreage de-
voted to peach growing there mas
been in the last ten years is no.
known as there seems to be no re-
liable statistics on the matter, Z. A
McCue director of the Agriculture
Experimental Station at Newark
however, computes the increase u
he small so the comeback" may no.
have gotten further than the present
governmental stages. Two years age
OK 8O2 bushels-nearly three-quar'
+ers of a million baskets-Wert
Skinned to market from Delaware
hut if all the peaches grown TINS
season are sent to market-which Il
doubtful because of the low price
the totals will perhaps exceed th'
1924 figures by thirty per cent. How
ever. at that rapid rate OF increase
it will require long period OF years
for this State to advance to its hlgL
record mark of 100000 baskets
marketed about forty years ago whe1
little Delaware supplied all the res
of the United States with the dellc
ions fruit. until a Delaware peacI
came to be the synonym for every
thing that was pretty and good.
The proprietor of Evergreen Farm
however. still pins his faith to thu
annie as the most important orchard
product grown in this State. He ma
not lost faith in the value OF I'M
annie orchard because Of the sluml
in the market which sent the prices
down almost to the zero point. III
exn1ains the collapse of the appl
market. as do the other orchardlst
and apple buyers about Wyoming, a
being caused by the lateness OF tn
spring season in some OF the soutn
ern states-including Delaware. IN
effect of this was that apples iron
the early states were put on tne MAJ j.
ket at the same time as similar trul
from the West and Northwest, VIII
fbe result that there was an owe
sunnlv in every big market ant
prices went almost to the vanishing
point.
The congestion was the more wild
r ~ rc HTNrEnAD