ITS PROPAGATION, 455 



siderable quantity of peach brandy is annually distilled from 

 them, but we believe, by no means so much as formerly. Hogs 

 are fattened, in such districts, on the refuse of the orchard and 

 distillery. 



In Western New- York, and indeed in most parts of the coun- 

 try where peaches are largely cultivated, the fruit is dried, and 

 in .his state, sent to market in very large quantities. The drying 

 is performed, on a small scale, in spent ovens ; on a large scale, 

 in a small drying house heated by a stove, and fitted up with 

 ventilated drawers. These drawers, the bottoms of which are 

 formed of laths, or narrow strips sufficiently open to allow the air 

 to circulate through them, are filled with peaches in hahes. 

 They are cut in two without being peeled, the stone taken oit, 

 and the two halves placed in a single layer with the skin down- 

 ward. In a short time the heat of the drying house will com- 

 plete the drying, and the drawers are then ready for a second 

 fiHing. Farther south they are spread upon boards or frames, 

 and dried in the sun merely ; but usually, with the previous pre- 

 paration, of dipping the peaches, (in baskets,) for a few minutes 

 in boiling water before halving them. 



The leaf of the peach, ^bruised in water and distilled, gives the 

 peach water, so much esteemed by many for flavouring articles 

 of delicate cookery ; and steeped in brandy or spirits, they 

 communicate to it the flavour of Noyeau. Indeed a very good 

 imitation of the celebrated Noyeau is made in this way, by using 

 the best white brandy, which, after being thus flavoured, is sweet- 

 ened with refined sugar mixed with a small quantity of milk, 

 and afterwards decanted. 



PROPAGATION. The peach is the most easily propagated of 

 all fruit trees. A stone planted in the autumn will vegetate in 

 the ensuing spring, grow three or four feet high, and may be 

 budded in August or September. Two years from this time, if 

 left undisturbed, it will, usually, produce a small crop of fruit, 

 and the next season bear very abundantly, unless the growth is 

 over-luxuriant. 



In nursery culture, it is customary to bury the peach stones, 

 in autumn, in some exposed spot, in thick layers, covered with 

 earth. Here they are allowed to lie all winter. As early in 

 the spring as the ground is in fine friable condition, the stones 

 are taken out of the ground, cracked, and the kernels sown in 

 mellow, prepared soil, in the nursery rows, where they are to 

 grow. They should be covered about an inch deep. Early in 

 the following September they will be fit for budding. This is 

 performed with great care on the peach, and grafting is there- 

 fore seldom or never resorted to in this country. The buds 

 should be inserted quite near the ground. The next season the 

 stock should be headed back in March, and the trees will, in 

 good soil, grow to the height of a man' 1 * head in one year. This 



