THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 53 



" This fruit is, however, sometimes kept for winter use, and for this 

 purpose they are prepared in the following manner. The fruit is cut into 

 four parts, the stone thrown away, and the fruit put upon a thread, on which 

 they are exposed to the sunshine in the open air, till they are sufficiently 

 dry. They are then put into a vessel for winter. But this manner of 

 drying them is not very good, because the rain of this season very easily 

 spoils and putrifies them, whilst they hang in the open air. For this reason 

 a different method is followed by others, which is by far the most eligible. 

 The peaches are as before cut into four parts, are then either put upon a 

 thread, or laid upon a board, and so hung up in the air when the sun shines. 

 Being dried in some measure, or having lost their juice by this means, they 

 are put into an oven, out of which the bread has but just been taken, and 

 are left in it for a while. But they are soon taken out and brought into the 

 fresh air; and after that they are again put into the oven, and this is 

 repeated several times until they are as dry as they ought to be. For if 

 they were dried up at once in the oven, they would shrivel up too much, 

 and lose part of their flavour. They are then put up and kept for the 

 winter. They are either baked into tarts and pyes,. or boiled and pre- 

 pared as dried apples and pears are in Sweden. Several people here dry 

 and preserve their apples in the same manner as their peaches. 



" The peach trees have, as I am told, been first planted here by the 

 Europeans. But at present they succeed very well, and require even less 

 care than our apple and pear trees." 



Kalm ' also gives an account of the colonists' method of making peach- 

 brandy, which, as we have seen, plays so important a part in the peach- 

 industry of the times. Brandy-making, according to Kalm, was sim- 

 plicity itself and it is not to be wondered that in those days of strong drink 

 peach-brandy was popular. The following is Kalm's description: " They 

 make brandy from peaches here, after the following method. The fruit 

 is cut asunder, and the stones are taken out. The pieces of fruit are then 

 put into a vessel, where they are left for three weeks or a month, till thej^ 

 are quite putrid. They are then put into the distilling vessel, and the 

 brandy is made and afterwards distilled over again. This brandy is not 

 for people who have a more refined taste, but it is only for the common 

 kind of people, such as workmen and the like." 



Kalm, travelling from Trenton to Princeton, found the country thickly 

 settled and full of orchards : ^ 



" During the greater part of the day we had very extensive corn 

 fields on both sides of the road. * * * Near almost every farm was 

 a spacious orchard full of peach and apple trees, and in some of them 



' Kalm, Peter Travels into North America 1:94. 1770. 

 ■ IM. 1:222-223. 1770. 



