
          109

This is the universal harvest, and brings money to the purse of
every one willing to work, plenty to every home, and good cheer
to every board.  To the family of the planter it means many luxuries,
in the shape of pianos, new carriages, fast horses, and perhaps
and additional farm or two.

"Kentonin Kent Co. [S. W. of Clayton] is the next point of
particular interest, as we are invited to inspect the fine orchard
Mr. Gorcker in that vicinity.  We arrive through Smyrna,
renowned for its peaches rather than its figs, * * *

"We pass orchard after orchard valled in by the impenetrable
osage orange hedge that here grows luxuriantly.  The country
is <s>rarely</s>nearly level, and the roads so straight that we look before us
away to where the lines of green converge to a point. * * *

"But here is Gercker's; and the first sight shows that it is
a model peach farm.  We take a birds'-eye view of the thousand
acres, and note the order and neatness of the plantation, laid out
in square fields of one hundred acres each.  The buildings are located
in the central part of the only field not planted with peach
trees.  A silver thread of water winds around the southern boundary,
toward which the ground inclines.  All other parts appear
to be as level as a floor. * * *

"The trees are planted in parallel rows about 8 paces apart,
and from our perch upon the top of a high gate-post we look down
upon a section of the orchard in full bearing, extending from near
the house to the distance of over a mile. * * *
        