The Press., 1903-05-14
A GREAT PEACH CROP
THAT WHICH CREW AROUND NEW
 YORK iN THE YEAR 1879.

THAT WHICH CREW AROUND NEW
 YORK iN THE YEAR 1879.
 Apparently the Luscious Fruit Was
 More Abundant on Manhattan Is-
 land Than Anything Else Except
 Bad Barbados Rum.
 Books of travel usually contain a vast amount of matter that is unim- portant and good deal that is untrue, besides not a little that is uninterest- ing, and the old travellers who wrote about their voyages to New York fur nished few exceptions to the rule.
 Tantalizing, therefore. is the diary of an observer who visited these shores in 1879; who had reportorial instinct for the important, the true and the in- teresting; whose journeys covered the entire territory now known as the Greater New York: who wrote fully and graphically of all he saw. and whose observations have all come down to us, with the exception of some thir- ty pages describing New York city at the time of his visit. Exactly that which would now be most valuable is lost; but, from what remains, we can learn a good deal about the New York of those days.
 Jaspar Bankers is the writer whose impressions of New York have thus been lost to the world, and in what has been preserved of his writings the chief thing that forces it's attention up on the reader is the magnitude of the peach crop in these parts during the year of his visit. He was religious enthusiast, the leader of the Labadists. sect that fourished briefly on three continents toward the close of the sev- enteenth century, and his voyage com- panion was a minister of the same sect.
 But there is little of this in his diary against a great deal of what they ate and drank, and on occasions when they went to the little church in the fort where the custom house is now the fact is mentioned with some apolo- gies, one service being attended ''in or der to avoid scandal and for other req sons' and others because "my con- panion is endeavoring to learn the lan- guage."
 But on the very day of their arrival in New York, Sept. g, 1879. 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 us 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 I believe our long fasting and cFaving for food made it so agreeable. After taking glass of madeira 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. I have never seen in Europe in the best seasons such an overfiowing abundance. When we fin ished our tour and had given our guides several letters to deliver, we returned to his father-in-law's. He re- galed us in the evening with milk. which refreshed us much. We had so many peaches set before us that we were timid about eating them. though we experienced no i'll effects from them"
 And the next day. Sunday. the rec ord opens with this:
 "I 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 Cor less than half cent apiece) to Long Island, where the people made them 'very welcome, sharing with us hountifully 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.
 ''It is impossible to tell how many peach trees we passed, all laden with fruit to breaking down and many of them actually broken down. We came to a 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 plen- tiful and still more delicious. When they went up to the north end of Man. haitian island, we find this notice:
 Before we left (Harlem) we did not omit supplying ourselves with peaches. road. The whole ground was covered with them and with apples. lying upon the 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 a road which was en- tirely covered with peaches. We asked the boy why they left them lie there and did not let the hogs eat thems He answered: We do not know what to do with them, there are so many. The hogs are satiated with them and will not eat any more From this we may judge of the quantity of them."- Fl. Fl. N. in New York Mall and Ex- press.
 It ls shiftless trick to send for