234 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



and curing apples, pears, peaches, and other fruits 

 in great quantities ; where pies are made into moun- 

 tains of crust, thick, essential, and cheap; and given 

 to hirelings, as an agreeable food for all laboring 

 people in the country, and which needs but little 

 or no sugar. The dried fruit is packed in casks for 

 family use; and is sometimes exported as merchan- 

 dize. They are generally divided into clear-stone 

 and cling-stone peaches. The cling-stone sorts are, 

 in France, called pavies. In a list of thirty-nine 

 choice sorts of peaches, given by Mr. Forsyth, only 

 six are received by the French as pavies or cling- 

 stones; and, it seems, in France and England the 

 clear-stone sort is preferred at their tables. 



"But of all peaches, perhaps of all fruits, there is 

 none equal in flavor to the American Heath Peach, 

 a cling-stone. It is large, weighing near a pound in 

 common : with but a moderate attention, the editor 

 believes, they would very generally weigh a full 

 pound. It is backward in ripening northward of 

 the Susquehanna ; and is one of the last sort that 

 ripens; many weigh a full pound. Peachley's form 

 of a vinery would perfect the ripening, and secure 

 the fruit from thieves. 



"Within the states of America, clear-stone 

 peaches are preferred for food to hogs, and for mak- 

 ing brandy; perhaps also to be eaten in country 

 families, with milk; but the cling-stone sorts are 

 preferred when of a good sort, well ripened, to be 

 eaten as fruit undressed. 



"It is a common fault, after having planted out an 

 orchard of peach trees, to leave the trees to shift 

 for themselves and travel down with old time, with 

 scarcely any culture or attention ; and the trees are 

 taken from the nursery, where they had become full 

 grown, crowded and stunted, so as to be now unfit 



