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FACTS ABOUT GEORGIA 103
Peaches
Internationally famous, the Georgia peach is the queen of •
fruits, as cotton is the king of soil products. A peach is a
peach, but the Georgia peach, beautiful, fragrant, flavorous, cool
and luscious, excells them all. The total production of peaches
in the State in 1915, according to United States Government re
ports, was 5,330,000 bushels, averaging over a dollar a bushel.
In 1914 the production was 5,785,000 bushels, at a farm value of
$1.26 a bushel. California produced nearly twice the number of
bushels that Georgia did in 1915, but its value per bushel was
little more than half that of Georgia's, and no other State ap
proached anywhere near the value of Georgia's crop. There
were 4,468 cars of peaches shipped from the State in 1915, of
which seventy per cent, were through the Georgia Fruit Ex
change, the thorough marketing system of which, through selling
agents in 246 cities, supplemented by the co-operation of the rail
roads, enabled it to avoid glutting the markets, and to obtain the
best possible prices. This organization has been a valuable object
lesson to the growers of other fruits. Its operations have been
counted thus far to marketing the peach crop. About eighty-five
per cent, of the peach growers belong to the exchange.
The growth of the peach industry in Georgia has been remark
able. Fifty years ago there were only a few small orchards near
Augusta. The first refrigerated car of peaches went to New
York in 1887. That gave great impetus to- the planting of or-
The Glorious Promise of
Fruitage.
•§> 3>
Fort Valley Peach Or
chard—six years old—in
Full Midsummer Foliage