Mexico weekly ledger., 1891-08-27
Peaches and Razor Backs.

BY Homer BasSfofd In Detroit + ree-PresS.
MAMMOTH SPRINGS, ARk.-I have
been down here for a week, eating
peaches with the natives. The
Ozark hillsides are red and gold
with the ripening fruit, and you
hear of nothing but peaches from
early morn to dewy eve. Think OF
500 acres of peaches, not one of
them smaller than your fist, and all
as soft and sweet as nature can make
them by her hardest work. Think
of one order of peaches sent here by
a Chicago house for seventy-fve
carloads Of the luscious fruit
That's the sort of peach country
the Ozark region is.
But hat is all of consequence that
is raised here. l met a native at
Thayer the day of my arrival and
asked him what the farmers raised.
peaches. mostly" he said.
"But what do they live on?"
peaches in summer and peach
p'serves in the winter"
"But don't they raise corn for
fodder?"
moo, I should say not ; peaches
is good enough fer the hogs round
in these hyer parts.'
The trees groan with the beauti-
full fruit, but people who eat these
Ozark peaches do not, for they are
little like that famous
"Peach of the emerald hue"
That put the Jones family in mourn
ing. They are simply peaches. They
are not green knots with seeds in
them Z; they are not rolls of exasper-
ating fuzz with a sunburn on the
sides !; they are not imitation mar
bles-they are peaches that make
your mouth water.
There is a farm about forty miles
north of this place, over in Mis-
souri,, that will send $4,000 bushels
of peaches to Kansas City, st. Louis
and Chicago this year. There are
300 acres OF peaches on this farm,
and in 1885 the land was bought by
the present owner at S1.25 an acre
The deed was from Unce Sam. The
peach trees were set out that year
and the result is a very comfortable
income for the man who ventureo
his culture and existence among the
razor-back hogs and Ozark natives
The Olden fruit farm in Howell
county, just across the line in Mis-
souri,, is without dispute the Creates
peach growing establishment on The
earth. The trees grow right up ou'
of the rocky hillside, but they get
there just the same and from theil
slender brown limbs the peache:
grow in such profusion that ont
wonders that the little twigs arr
strong enough to support the weight
This is an out-of-way place, too
There is a railroad here, but the pas
sengers rarely get off. If they onl,
tried it once they would come again
but the sight of a razor-back hos
sharpening his back against the sta
ton door ~frightens the visitor int
his Pullman and he goes on to Mem
phis, or back up to st. Louis or Kan
sas City. If there could be a con
centration of all that has been writ
ten about the razor-back-concen
trated lie, as it were-it would no
be too strong for the occasion. I'll
never does anything but eat, and
will take an oath that you canno
find two pounds Of superAuous flesl
in a drove of them. They are 81
thin that they have to keep moving
on the principle of a bicycle, t.
. avoid tumbling over. But to ge
back to the peaches.
l went into a shop here thi
morning and asked for a nickel
worth of them. The native store
keeper filled a half-bushel basket ant
handed it to ME.
"But l only wanted a nickel
worth, you know"
"Well, that's just what you'v
got, stranger, but we can't throw ii
a basket like that on a five-cen
DEAL"
|. saw the point, took five peaches
each as big as a c~antelope, and left
Don't doubt anything you hea
about the peaches raised in tn
Qzarks. Everything that may b
said about them is true.
The place is n of the queeres
freaks of nature in the world. TIL
main freak is a spring that exude
at the rate Of 10000 gallons Q
water every minute, daily and Sun
day. The water is as clear as crys
tai and SO as to temperature
Where it comes from, the Oldest in
habitant does not know. 1t ha
been guessed at by scientists frou
Rotterdam to Rochester and iron
Maine to Mendoclno, but non
Of the guesses ever agreed. 1t i
so,ro oe Cpr;p- R;v,r 10