INTRODUCTION. 175 



but they should be eaten in moderation, as they are strongly impregnated 

 with prussic acid, one of the deadliest poisons. In this state they 

 also make a unique flavoured jam, and a few of those young fruit 

 or green leaves put into gin or other spirits give them the flavour 

 of noyeau. The ripe fruit are also often preserved in halves, or whole, 

 in boiled syrup for dessert. Peaches and nectarines form a delicious 

 sweet treated thus, and those used for such purposes should not be 

 too ripe. Peaches may likewise be preserved in gin or brandy like 

 MoreUo cherries ; though treated thus they are rather a strong and heady 

 sweet, to be eaten with caution, lest the luseiousness of the peach 

 betray the eater into an excess of spirit. Bipe peaches are also used 

 for pies and compdtes, but the softness and juciness of the flesh are 

 rather against them for such uses, as they need to be rather unripe 

 and to have careful handling. Of course the copious saccharine juice 

 of the peach speedily undergoes fermentation, and peach brandy has 

 long been known as one of its products. Peaches have also fattening 

 properties of no mean order, and although it does seem «, degradation 

 of a noble fruit almost to write it, pigs do remarkably well on them. 

 It seems a pity, howevei!, to connect peaches with pork, while the 

 teeming population of our large towns yet hardly know the sight nor 

 flavour of luscious peaches nor nectarines. Attempts have been made 

 to dry the peach and compress it, as plums are, into preserves. Hitherto 

 those attempts have been almost baffled through the excess of juice 

 in the fruit. The same difficulties have prevented peaches from being 

 converted into jellies or jams to any great extent. Attempts have, 

 however, been made, we believe, both in Australia and Hew Zealand 

 to prepare preserved peaches for export to England. It. is hoped that 

 these attempts wiU ultimately prove successful, so that those who 

 cannot grow their own peaches may yet have the opportunity, of eating 

 those grown at our Antipodes or from the large peach orchards of America. 

 The extreme perishability of the fruit at present prevents its distant 

 transport in a natural state. But, preserved in spirits or in sugar, 

 and packed in air-tight tins or jars, there seems no reason why peaches 

 could not travel round the world, and be sold at paying prices to the 

 producer and low rates to the consumer; for few trees are more 

 prolific, and produce crops with greater certainty and at legs cost than 

 the peach, where the climate is favourable and where it can be grown 

 as a standard in fields or gardens. 



