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GATHERING PEACHES, DELAWARE

Here you are shown a part of an industry that has developed fairly recently. This is the industry of orcharding. It is not meant by this that people in this country have not had their orchards for years and years. In fact, every farm homestead had, in the early days, great apple and peach orchards which produced abundantly. But with the growth of large cities there came a demand for fruit to be produced for shipment.

Apples are our most important orchard
crop. Peaches rank next to apples in the value
of the amount produced. The leading peach-
growing states are New Jersey, Maryland,
Georgia, Delaware, Michigan, Colorado, New
York, Connecticut, California, Oregon and
Washington.

*Point out the states named on a map of the United States. Can you tell why these states are especially good for fruit growing?*

Your map will show the wide range in which

Lat. 39° N.; Long. 76° W.

peaches may be grown. They are an uncer-
tain crop, however, because they are easily
frozen in the spring, especially at blooming
time.

Peach orchards are laid out and tended in
much the same way as are apple orchards.
The young seedlings are set out in rows at
regular distances apart. These seedlings are
"budded" from varieties of trees that produce
great quantities of excellent fruit. They are
trimmed and tended as all other orchard trees
should be. They have their special diseases
which peach growers guard against by special
treatments.

The fruit must be gathered by hand so that it will not be bruised. It is put into crates, loaded on fast freight trains, and sent to market. Many of the peaches unfit for shipment were formerly made into brandy.

Copyright by The Keystone View Company

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