The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1888-11-30
The Luscious Peach

LIE sIollng along the river front a
New York Telegram reporter me. a Del
aware peach grower experimenting the
unloading of cargo of the fruit. He
took things easy and talked by tho
yard
Where did the peach originator
asked the reporter.
No one knows for certainty, though
ITS origin is generally credited to Per
sla; some careful investigators conclude
1t to be really a native OF Chins. 1t Is
one OF the fruits earliest cultivated: some
botanical writers think II is derived from
the almond; the stain kernel and the
leaves, you know, have bitter almond
twang, the kernels in both are often
double, and it rather a curious fact that
the peach is not mentioned in the Bible.
while reference TO the almond is fire.
quent.
1t grows in every place, but it is only
N THIS country that good peaches are
cheap enough for poor people to buy,
ana only IN the regions Immediately ad-
Joining good peach sections Is this true
mere First class fruit is seldom even in
tue best seasons, sold cheap in the Mid
die and Western States. Plenty Of
peaches are shipped but the best sell
high New lok Is a favored city.
They're cheap enough here for anybody
should say-a regular peach lovers
paradise; l suppose no fruit has SO
many extravagant lovers as the peach.
Some persons would like it better if
1t had a smooth skin. / have i little
girl who won't eat a peach unless its
peeled for her, and she can't be induced
to handle them in the basket; says the
luz sets her all on cage, like a 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
hundred years old, aud there was one in
France thought to be older.
''The stem-keruel, 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 numberless 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
SIN 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
ar 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
ook at. There are some fine peach
houses in this country, but more in Eu-
-ope. The tree is trained on walls there,
100, to protect it.
The best peaches never reach market.
4 peach is not perfect unless ripened on
he tree, but If we were TO pack them
-ipe they'd be rotten when opened; even
'ne soft one in a crate will spoil the lot,
% we have to pick them when hard.
Did you ever notice baskets with small
green branches of the tree at top
md bottoml Those are 'sprlgged.' !
The choice peaches are marked that way.
When the fruit is all gathered from an
orchard we ferti.ize and plough the
round and prune the tree
1.-The amount of peaches canned is
omething tremendous. The process is
ust the reverse Of the kitchen method. !
\ woman heats the fruit, then cans it,
Tut in the factory it is canned, and then
leated to expel the air.
"Some peach trees bear double flow
rs beautiful as roses, but the fruit is no
rood The dwarf peach is a queer little
rec that hears fruit when only one or
wo feet high. The weeping peach is a
handsome lawn tree; the fruit is only
-ood for cooking. The branches droop /
ike those of the weeping willow; it was
originated by New Jersey man. The
Hood leayed peach is wonderfully strong
n spring. but the leaves bleach out in
umner
The queerest fruit produced by the
each comes from hina. One sort IS
allied the crooked peach, but it's so
weet it can afford to be crooked; the
ther has the pulp all on the sides, the
nds of the stem having nothing over
hem but skin. That's the fat peach,
T peen-tOn