Connecticut western news., 1875-09-03
2 t-t - - "
 DELAWARE PEACH ORCHARD.
All About Peaches--HOw they GrOw--HOw
 they are Gathered and How Sent to

All About Peaches--How they Grow--How
 they are Gathered and How Sent to
 Market. --
 A correspondent of the New York Sun
 has been visiting the great peach orch
 ard of Gen. Van Worst in Delaware. The
 general says: have $40 acres. buy
 my trees from the nurseries. As soon as
 they are large enough we |" bud them
 that is the same as grating them, only
 we insert bud instead of twig, and
 fasten it with 8 wrapped cord, instead of
 with wax. The trees are set sixteen feet
 apart each way, and every fifth row is thirty feet wide, for wagon road. I
 have 27,OOO peach trees, covering 275
 acres. They are so arranged, the early
 and late varieties, that we have con-
 tinuous supply from the beginning to
 the end of the season. x
 have no fixed quantity to ship every
 day-it depends entirely upon the wealth
 CT. Some days I ship from 2,500 to
 5000 crates, and on others, not half as
 many. don't pay any attention to the
 condition of the market. When the
 peaches are ready to pick, they've got
 to go, and I ship right along, without
 asking any questions about the price.
 The general drove through the other
 two orchards, almost exact copies of the
 first. In the last forty men, black and
 white, were at work picking peaches i;
 some standing on the ground, reaching
 down for low limbs and reaching up for
 high limbs; others on step-ladders,
 picking from the tops of the trees.
 the baskets were filled, they were stood | iv, oao1 ci1o of +ho
 making line of ripe crimson peaches
 on both sides of us mile long. The
 white men keep up quiet conversation;
 but the negroes are singing plantation
 song. Five teams are carrying the full
 baskets from the field to the packing
 house, and the jolly overseer is here,
 there, and everywhere, his huge steel
 watch chain jingling with every step.
 He looks out for everything, and keeps
 the great machine working smoothly.
 Two wagons are double deckers, and l hold two tiers of baskets. We will fol-
 low this one to the packing house, and
 see what is done with the peaches after
 they leave the orchard.
 In the packing house ten or twelve men
 are at work. They are seated on crates,
 and in front of each is basket of peach
 es and crate that is being packed.
 Each peach is carefully handled and
 thoroughly inspected, for 8 single bad
 one would spoil a whole crate. The
 "culls" are put ina basket by themselves,
 to be packed afterward, and marked
 "No. g." As each crate is filled the
 cooper nails on the head, and right be-
 hind him comes the marker, with his
 stencil plates and his can of blue ink.
 The crate is marked with "V" in a
 diamond, and on the other end, Early
 York" Then it is stood with the others
 by the door, ready to go to the depot.
 One of the double-decked wagons drives
 up, and ffty-fve of the crates start for
 the cars.
 "What does it cost to land crate in
 New York, including everything9 I can
 tell you to cent" said the general,
 taking out his notebook. "The crate costs sixteen cents. The freight from Milford to New York is thirty cents. That makes fortysix cents. Say eight cents for picking and loading. That's fifty-four. Then five cents for carriage in
 New York. Fifty nine cents, exactly. "What are we getting crate can tell you that, too. Here's 8 dispatch got from my consignees this morning
 That tells the story. Hear what they say: Your last lot arrived in ba6 order, and we had to sell them fol twenty-five cents crate, to get rid o1 them.' How many crates would a mar But of course they don't all sell as low : crate, or dollar and half. It all de pends upon the condition the peaches are in when they reach New York. Late ,4e,1,s F,rooh than the early. The trouble with the : crop so far has been the rain. The peaches have got so full of water tha they're soft and squashy' before they are ripe. They seem ripe and sound when we pick them, but before they gel . to New York they're gone. If we have 5 few days of dry weather, it will make 7 great difference in the value of peaches If we could get load of peaches ikt . that to New York;" picking up large beautiful specimen, "we could get al most any price for them. But, of course ;; they have to be shipped before they're ripe" ..,. ..." . We drive up to the front yard, anG take seat in the shade at the back O. the house, where several of the men art !, packing Bartlett pears. The genera orders watermelon "just out of tht ice house." and while we are eating i he tells us something about the manage U ment of great peach orchard. The ] land requires a deal of manure, he says l and to supply this, and to keep plent. 3 of good butter, he has herd of Jersey cattle, forty of them, of each of whicl !. he has full pedigree. He keeps six
 teen horses, and, in the busiest season
 hires as many more. .ll.-
 : To his pickers he pays dollar day e He has on the place nine cottages, il 2 which his head workmen live. Th' | men have the privilege of planting vege V tables between the trees, and in this wa, ,- they can raise all they can eat. They ar' r. sharp enough, too, to SOW their seeds il t such a position that the plants will b. t cultivated whenever the trees are. The. T. are allowed to help themselves to tn s fruit, and those who are not married cal s get board very cheap. Scattered abou t the place are tool houses, in which tn i, blows and cultivators are kept, and dow v by the barn are three storehouses, pilet ]. from cellar to roof with baskets ant 1, crates. ssI have to buy enough for tn e whole season before the picking begins, f the general explains, s' for if the maker : should catch man with no crates, and ], crop of peaches on his hands ready 10 ,, the market, he'd have to pay well fo y them, and, perhaps, not be able to ge > them at all. The crates belong to tn D purchasers, but the baskets are all sen V back free." '..
 s A few of the peaches are shipped il t what are technically known as "pocke a crates" s"-boxes with a separate compart J, ment for each peach. These peache v are valued highly, nearly always bein' J, in good condition, and bringing iron # s2.5o to $3 crate. The pears ar