The peaches of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

LOCATIONS AND SITES FOR PEACH-ORCHARDS

That peach-growing is not capable of equal development in all of the agricultural regions of the country and State appears in page after page of the history of this fruit. Climate and soil, as we have tried to show, are the great determinants of the large geographical peach-areas but beside these there are several other factors influencing the formation of peach-growing communities; as, transportation facilities, markets, labor, ability to make and dispose of by-products, selling organizations, local climate and so on. The economic factors just mentioned, as they apply to the establishment of peach-belts, have received sufficient notice in the history of the peach-industry in the United States, but these, together with several natural factors, need a few words in their local application to individual plantations under the head of locations and sites for peach-orchards—the location having to do with the general surroundings and the site with the particular piece of land to be planted.

The dominant considerations in placing commercial peach-orchards in the peach-zones in New York seem now to be economic ones. Natural conditions are so favorable in any of the recognized peach-districts of the State and obstacles so easily overcome by those who possess common knowledge of peach-growing, that a crop comes almost as a gift from nature. Natural advantages are more common than man-made ones; so that suitable locations are mostly to be sought for in the centers of peach-growing near a shipping point where the haul is short, the freight service prompt, regular, efficient, with low freight rates and refrigerator service, where labor is abundant, and, lastly and very important, where the markets are so placed that they are not controlled by growers in regions more advantageously situated.

Advantages offered by local markets now determine the placing of a good many peach-orchards in New York. A location where there is a good local market and at the same time ample facilities for shipping to distant markets is ideal, for it enables the grower to dispose of over-ripe and second-rate peaches that otherwise go to the dump. The local consumer, however, usually suffers. Prosperous towns and cities have added much to the prosperity of nearby peach-districts in this State but generally these local markets have not received the attention from growers they deserve. The product sent to the local markets is usually much poorer than that shipped to a distance. On the other hand, growers maintain that customers in towns in the peach-belts will not pay for good fruit.

Nowhere are the favorable influences of water more admirably illustrated than in the peach-orchards of New York, all of the peach-districts being bounded on one or more sides by bodies of water. The great majority of the orchards are planted on the shores of one of the two Great Lakes, slope toward one of the several Finger Lakes, or are near flowing water in the Hudson. The equalizing effects of bodies of water on temperature—warmer winters and cooler summers—and the effects of the air-currents from bodies of water are so well known that comment is not necessary. It is worth while noting, however, the distance to which the benign influences of water are felt in the New York peach-districts. In the Hudson Valley the peach can be grown only a-mile or two from the river with safety from frosts and freezes. With few exceptions, the peach-orchards about the Central Lakes overlook the water. On the Great Lakes peach-plantations are found from one to six or eight miles from the water, depending upon the height of the land, and the amount and direction of the slope.

Usually the peach-plantations are some distance above the lakes or river, generally from one hundred to three hundred feet. When the altitude is much higher, immunity from frost and winter freezes ceases, probably because the atmosphere is rarer and no doubt drier so that heat radiates from the land rapidly inducing frostiness rather than frostlessness. As the height increases, too, the sweep of the wind increases. But still, one is often surprised to find vigorous orchards perched high above the water, the sport of every wind, so that altitude in peach-growing must be determined by experiment.

The site, as we choose to consider it, is the situation with especial regard to the particular plot of ground set aside for the peach-orchard—altitude, soil, slope, exposure, local climate and all of the natural factors which favor peach-growing. All these have been touched upon in their relation to peach-districts and locations within the districts but we need to particularize a little more closely to show how some of these factors affect individual orchards.

The best peach-orchards in New York are invariably higher than the surrounding country, such orchards having the two great advantages of soil-drainage and atmospheric drainage. Rolling land seems not to be at all essential, for many splendid plantations are on flat lands which, however, in all cases have an elevation on one or more boundaries above the surrounding country. The more pronounced the elevation, within limits, the better, though sharp declines of a few feet, ten or fifteen, serve for small orchards as do gentle slopes of slightly higher elevation. Ideal spots where the peach never fails are found in bits of tillable land, usually too small for large commercial ventures, in the rough and steep gulches running down from the highlands to the lakes, occasionally on the Ontario and Erie shores, but more often in the more broken country about the Finger Lakes. In such cases the rigors of seasons are seldom felt. We do not recall seeing a single successful peach-orchard in the State shut in on all sides by higher land—frosts and freezes would soon play havoc in such a situation.

The exposure of a peach-plantation is, without doubt, a matter of some importance in choosing a site but the value of particular exposures to avoid frosts and secure early, late, or highly colored fruits has been greatly over-emphasized by horticultural writers if New York orchards be taken as criteria. The theory is most plausible. It runs, in brief: Northward slopes are best for peaches in frosty regions since on such slopes plants remain dormant longest thereby often escaping spring frosts. Southward slopes should be selected for early varieties, the sun and warmth of such an exposure supposedly hastening the ripening time. Now the facts are, as we observe them, the peach blossoms with the first burst of spring warmth whether the slope face north or south; and whether north or south makes little difference in ripening because the intense heat of our New York summers submerges slight differences appearing early in the season because of exposure. About all that shows in the matter of exposure for peach-orchards, in this State is that the best slopes are toward the water to secure the effects that dictate the location of orchards near water.

One comes across many peach-orchards in New York in the shelter of high hills or heavy forests for which the trees usually show gratitude in vigor and fruitfulness, provided hill or wood does not shade the orchard too much. Hills and woods provide desirable shelter only when so situated as to protect against winter winds and summer storms. A most remarkable example of winter protection by a forest was to be seen a few years ago on the somewhat noted fruit-farm of Mr. Grant Hitchings near South Onondaga where peaches are at the limit as regards temperature. Here was a peach-orchard half of which was terribly injured by winter-killing and the other half, protected by a forest a quarter-mile away, was wholly unhurt. Yet windbreaks have seldom proved satisfactory, usually developing as many or more disadvantages than advantages.