Observations on the Season in the Year 1816. 135 



Peas, [pisum sativum.) Uninjured by the frost ; I 

 think not as productive as usual. 



S, raw berries, (fraga?'ia vesca.) Scarce; killed in some 

 place* by the frost ; the season too cool for them : not 

 well flavoured. 



Apples, fruit of the pyrus maius. In great plenty, 

 hung on the trees remarkai iy well, owing to their being 

 more immature than in ordinary seasons, which must be 

 attributed, to the absence ol heat and shortness of the 

 summer ; not as well flavoured as usual, but it is supposed 

 will keep better through the winter ; as f ruit of almost any 

 kind will ket p longer, if taken off some time previous to 

 its coming to maturity. Cider made this year appears 

 to be weaker than common, generally made lute, which 

 probably will not ferment before spring, if ever it does, 

 and in this state I apprehend it to be very little worth ; 

 evenihat which was made early in the fall from the best 

 kind of fruit, did not ferment as rapid as is usual at that 

 season of the year, either fr>m the coolness of the weather, 

 or for want of that saccharine quality which is so es- 

 sen ial to the vinous fermentation (and which appears to 

 exist but in a small degree in all unripe fruits) or both. 

 I am informed that cider at the distilleries did not ferment 

 as u->ual, or become ripe in the same length of time as 

 in other seasons ; and I apprehend will not produce much 

 alcohol. Summer apples remained on the trees much 

 longer than the usual time, some even till winter ; those 

 that ripened early, tolerably w^ell flavoured ; but others 

 ripening as the season advanced, became more insipid, 

 and that in direct ratio. 



Peaches, {amygdalus persica.) But k-w trees in this 

 part of the country ; but what came within the range of my 



