Near Middletown several large peach farms were visited. The farm of the late Cantwell Clark contains one thousand acres, two hundred and eighty of which are devoted to peach orchards, and the balance to corn, wheat and grass, all managed entirely by a young lady only twenty-one years of age.

The farm of J. T. Ellison contains a peach orchard of one hundred acres, trees varying from two to eighteen years of age. Mr. B. T. Biggs, U. S. representative to Congress, has orchards containing thirty-five thousand trees. These are divided over four farms. Most of them are rented to tenants who keep the farms in excellent order. While the present low prices of peaches were discouraging most growers, Mr. Biggs still felt hopeful, for in his opinion, a profit of but fifteen cents per basket would net the grower as much money per acre as hay or grain forming.

The farm of J. B. Fennimore, which for years has been one of the largest and most successful and most profitable in the State, was this year only bringing him a profit of but fifteen cents per basket for his fruit, and most of it was his choicest.

The orchards near Middletown are in fine condition, the land being heavier and trees more productive than at points further south, but not as finely colored, nor as early as at Dover. The peaches are picked from the tree by laborers from Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their wages are $1 to $1.25 per day, and board. Good pickers will average from forty to fifty baskets per day. Some prefer to pick by the basket, and receive five cents per basket, and make $2 per day, others $3.

The farm of Samuel Townsend, near Smyrna, contains four hundred acres, and he ships usually three cars of fruit per day.

Near Smyrna are the farms of four brothers, George Gummings and three others, who have been most successful in the management of their fruit, and have accumulated large fortunes.

On the farm of Robert Cummings is a fine apple orchard, the leading variety of all, "English Red Streak," having an unusual quantity of fruit upon it. This apple is one of the most popular in the State. Mr. Peters thinks the very early varieties profitable, such as the Golden Sweet, Early Harvest, and Red Astrachan. These four brothers have together one thousand acres, and one hundred thousand peach trees. As an instance of the fluctuation of prices, one of the brothers (as stated by Mr. Quinn) shipped fourteen hundred baskets one day to market, and when the account of sale was returned to him, found only a net profit of three cents per basket. Owing to the low prices, thousands of bushels were not picked and left to rot on the trees in nearly every orchard on the Peninsula. One grower near Mount Pleasant lost ten thousand baskets of peaches in this way.

At Round Top, Md., is the farm of Jno. Harris, who has one of the largest peach orchards in the United States - one thousand and thirteen acres, nearly all in full bearing. All the crop is canned on the place. The canning factory is located in the center of the orchard, and fruit brought right to it from the pickers. Five hundred women and girls are employed during the busy season, assorting and peeling and packing. They earn $6 to $10 per week. They get fifteen cents per basket for peeling and quartering the peaches and removing the pits. The daily work is about four thousand baskets, which make thirty thousand cans, and before the close of the season, Mr. Harris expects his crop will fill one million cans. The canned peaches are sold in Baltimore and Philadelphia, bringing at wholesale, $1.25 per dozen cans of two pounds each, which is very low, the usual price being $2.75 per dozen. Cans holding three pounds sell for $1 more per dozen.