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Show Study of Peach Grower's Problems Urged As Basic Help To County BY LEO F. REBER Member County Planning Board The question as it now stands is "Do the people of this county not concerned in growing peaches realize just what the man who is growing them is facing?" According to statistics taken by the Department of Agriculture in 1935 there were 4,305 peach trees under bearing age and 47,128 trees bearing peaches. The Depart ment of Agriculture takes a census cen-sus every five years and will take one this coming spring. It is quite impossible to give a correct amount of the number of trees at this time without making a count, but it is a certain fact that the amount has almost doubled in the past five years. Last year many tons of fine peaches went to waste. The growers that shipped by rail in carload lots received twenty-seven and one-half cents per bushel and (Continued on page five) Peach Grower's Problems (Continued from first page) had to pay for picking and packing pack-ing out of this amount. It is impossible to make any profit out of double the amount received last summer with the present system of pruning, spraying, spray-ing, thinning, along with picking, grading and packing. Just what can be done to save this most important industry of our county? Why don't our county commissioners lend a hand ? We notice that they do something for most every worthy cause. In last week's issue of our Washington County News there appeared a fine report of what the Chamber of Commerce had done in 1939. These men certainly have the problems of our county at heart, but the report would have looked better had they been able to report helping the fruit-man. "We also notice that the banks give aid to the beet seed man, the stock man and the turkey grower. It would be quite possible that the fruit grower would deposit his money with them if he had any to deposit. The writer knows of five disc harrows that came from Sears Roebuck and Co. to a small community com-munity in 1938. If the merchants gave a little support and boosted the fruit industry, it is quite possible pos-sible that the fruit men would be more in sympathy with them and buy locally. There have been a number of attempts made to bring the fruit growers together but all have failed in one way or another. The reason they have failed has been because the fruit man has had to stand alone without the support sup-port of other industries of the county. Now, If the county commission, the different clubs, banks, merchants, mer-chants, and Influential people of this county would rise up and help the fruit man, Washington county would be a better place to live In. |