The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-10-11
The Lusrjous Peach.

While s,rolling along the river front a
New York 7sLgrdm reporter met Del
aware peach grower uperintending the
unloading of u cargo of the fruit. lie
took things easy and talked by the
yard.
where did the peach originator
asked the reporter.
"No one knows for u certointy, though
its origin is generally credited to Per-
sia; some careful Investigators conclude
it to be really native Of China 1t is
one of the fruits earliest cultivated; some
botanical writers think it is derived from
the almond the stain kernel and the
leaves, you know, have n bitter almond
twang. the kernels in both are often
double, and il rather n curious fact that
the peach is not mentioned in the Bible,
while reference to the almond is fire.
quent.
at grows in every place, but it is only
in this country that good peaches are
cheap enough for poor people to buy,
and only in the reg ons Immediately adj
joining good peach sections is this true
here. First class fruit is seldom even in
the best seasons, sold cheap in the Mid.
die and Western States. Plenty of
peaches are shipped but the best sell
high. New York is favored city.
They're cheap enough here for anybody.
| should say-a regular peach lovers
paradise; ! suppose no fruit has so
many eXtravagant lovers rs the peach.
"Some persons would like it better if
it had a smooth skin. | have little
girl who won't eat peach unless it's
peeled for her, and she can't be induced
to handle them in the basket; says the
fuzz sets her all on edge,' like sour
apple does your teeth
The tree is not naturally short lived,
though it is subject to so many misfor-
tunes that it has gained that reputation.
There are trees in Virginia well on to a
hundred years old, and there was one in
France thought to be older.
1.-THE stem. kernel, aud not the stem
itself. is the seed Fruit is usually borne
the fourth year after the stem is planted,
though sometimes in sixteen months.
The seeds rarely produce their own vari-
ETY., so that uumberess new sorts are all
the time growing; some of these will
thrive anywhere, others only in the To-
cality which has developed them. Most
of the standard varieties in this country
have originated here.
''ln places where the climate is too
cold for outdoor growth the peach is
grown in houses. These peach houses
are not heated, protection from the outer
air being sufficient The trees are some
times planted in tubs, and kept trimmed
down TO about three feet when these are
full of fruits they're mighty pretty to
look ut. There are some fine peach
houses in this country, but more in Eu-
rope. The tree is trained on walls there,
too, to protect it.
1.-THE best peaches never reach market.
A peach is not perfect unless ripened on
the tree, but il we were to pack them
ripe they'd be rotten when opened even
one soft one in II crate will spoil the lot,
so we have TO pick them when hard.
Dd YOU ever notice baskets with small
green branches of the tree at top
and bottomi Those are 'sprgged. ,
The choice peaches are marked that way.
When the fruit is all gathered from an
orchard we ferti!ize and plough the
around and prune the tree.
"lhe amount Of peaches canned is
something tremendous. The process is
lust the reverse of the kitchen method.
A woman heats the fruit, then cans it,
but in the factory it is canned, and then
heated to eXpel the air.
"Some peach trees bear double flow
ers beautiful rs roses, but the fruit is no
good. The dwarf peach is queer little
tree that hears fruit when only one or
two feet high. The weeping peach is a
handsome lawn tree; the fruit is only
good for cooking. The branches droop
/ like those of the weeping willow; it was
originated by New Jersey man. The
blood leaved peach is wonderfully strong
in spring, but the leaves bleach out in
summer.
THE queerest fruit produced by the
peach comes from China One sort is
called the crooked peach, but it's SC
sweet it can afford to be crooked; the
other has the pulp all on the sides, the
ends of the stem having nothing over
them but skin. That's the Tat peach,