The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1902-08-29
a GREAT PEACH CROP
-u,1 WHICH GREW AROUND NEW
o" vopx IN THE YEAR 1879.


,oo,s Of travel usually contain
poVA n,onnt of matter that is unlm-
Vas' Vast and n good deal that is untrue,
pore not n little that is uninterest-
pesi's1 od tbe old travellers who wrote
~ hort their voyages to New Aork Iur-
aoy S"d few exceptions to the rule.
uls rrnto1izing. therefore, is the diary OF
10" .l,sorver who visited these shores
~ ,c-o. who had reportorial instinct
por the important, the true and the IN
. ~ whose Journeys covered tne
zinc territory now known as the
en- .,r Now York: who wrote fully
~ S rranhically of all he saw, and
an observations have all come down
ms ns with the exception of some thir-
y ooo. describing New York city at
lime Of his visit. Exactly that
'H r,oh would now be most valuable is
w.. Inf from what remains, we can
,oorn n good deal about the New York
1osnor bankers is the writer whose
,.,rassions of New York have thus
, ny ,ost 10 the world, and in what
- noon preserved of his writings the
obiaf thing that forces its attention up
~ tho reader is the magnitude of the
coach crop in these parts during the
,.oor NJ his visit He was religious
enthusiast the leader of the Labadists,
scot that fourished briefly on three
Continents toward the close of the sew
onteenth century, and his voyage COM
nanion was a minister of the same
sect.
But there is little of this in his diary
ocoinst Il great deal of what they ate
and drank, and on occasions when
+bav went to the little church in the
FORT where the custom house is now
+be fact is mentioned with some apollo
cies one service being attended ''in or
dor IN avoid scandal and for other rea
ems" and others because my COM
nanlon is endeavoring to learn the Ian
guage.
But on the very day of their arrival
in New York, Sept. %, 1919, we begin
TO hear Of the eatables and drinkables.
especially the peaches.
He first took us to the house of one
of his friends, who welcomed him and
rs and offered us some of the fruit of
the country, very fine peaches and full
grown apples, which filled our hearts
with thankfulness to God. This fruit
was exceedingly fair and good and
pleasant to the taste, much better than
that in Holland or elsewhere, though
| believe our long fasting and craving
for food made it so agreeable. After
taking 4 glass ofsmadeira we proceed
ed. As we walked along we saw in
different gardens trees full of apples
of various kinds and so laden with
peaches and other fruit that one might
doubt whether there were more leaves
or fruit on them | have never seen in
Europe In the best seasons such an
overlooking abundance. When we fin
ishcd our tour and had given our
guides several letters to deliver, we
returned to his father-in-law's He re-
called US in the evening with milk,
which refreshed us much. We had so
many peaches set before us that we
were timd about eating them, though
We experienced no ill effects from
them "
And the next day, Sunday, the rec
ord opens with this:
81 was surprised on waking to find
my comrade had already dressed him
self and breakfasted upon peaches"
So it went every day. Toward the
end Of the week they crossed the ferry
flor less than half cent apiece to
Long Island, where the people made
them very welcome, sharing with us
bountifully whatever they had,
whether it was milk, cider, fruit or to-
bacco, and especially, first and most of
all, miserable rum, which had been
brought from Barbados and which is
called by the Dutch 'kill-devil.' These
people are very fond of it. and most of
them extravagantly so, although it is
very dear and has bad taste"
But on Long Island, as elsewhere,
the peaches were as good as the rum
was bad.
ut is impossible to tell low many
peach trees we passed, sall laden with
fruit to breaking down and many Of
them actually broken down. We came
to place surrounded with such trees
from which so many had fallen off
that the ground could not be discerned
and you could not put your foot down
without trampling them, and notwith-
Standing such large quantities had
fallen off the trees still were as full
as they could bear. The hogs and
other animals mostly feed on them"
The peaches in Harlem were as pie
tlful and still more delicious. When
they went up to the north end of Man
hattan island, we find this notice:
Before we left (Harlem) we did not
omit supplying ourselves with peaches,
winch grew in an orchard along the
road. The whole ground was covered
with them and with apples, lying upon
'ne new grain with which the orchard
was planted. The peaches were the
most delicious we had yet eaten"
But they need not have taken the
precaution mentioned, for even after
crossing Spuyten Duyvil they found
more peaches than ever.
We came to road which was en-
lfely covered with peaches. We asked
the boy why they left them lie there
ana did not let the hogs eat them.
lie answered: we do not know what
10 do with them. there are so many
Inc hogs are satiated with them and