Chapter XXXIII: Part I: Pomologie, ou Description des meilleures sortes de (3)

_Dipping before Packing._--All fruits except prunes can be packed in
good condition without dipping, provided the fruit is not over-dried.
Efforts should be made to take up the fruit when it is just
sufficiently cured to prevent subsequent fermentation. If taken from
the trays in the heat of the day and covered so that the fruit moth can
not reach it there is little danger of worms. The highest grades of
fruit are made in this way. If, however, the fruit has been over-dried
or neglected, it can be dipped in boiling water to kill eggs of vermin
and to make the fruit a little more pliable for the press. The dipping
should be done quickly, and the fruit allowed to drain and then lie in
a dark room, carefully covered, for twenty-four hours before packing.

_Packing._--To open well, packages of dried fruit should be 'faced.'
The many fine arts of paper lining, etc., must be learned by
observation. Flatten some fair specimens of the fruit to be packed (and
reference is especially made to such fruits as apricots, peaches and
nectarines) by running them through a clothes wringer or similar pair
of rollers set to flatten but not crush the fruit. Do not face with
better fruit than the package is to contain. It is a fraud which will
not in the end be profitable. Lay the flattened fruit (cup side down)
neatly in the bottom of the box. Fill the box until it reaches the
amount the box is to contain, and then apply the press until the bottom
can be nailed on. Invert the box and put on the label or brand; the
bottom then becomes the top.

Many different kinds of boxes are used. A very good size is made of
seasoned pine, six inches deep by nine inches wide by fifteen inches
long, inside measurements, and it will hold twenty-five pounds of
fruit. * * *

_Peaches._--Take the fruit when it is fully ripe, but not mushy; cut
cleanly all around to extract the pit and put on trays cup side up; get
into the sulphur box as soon as possible after cutting. Peaches are
dried both peeled and unpeeled, but drying without peeling is chiefly
done. Peeling is done with the small paring machines or with a knife.
Peeling with lye has been generally abandoned because of discoloration
of the fruit after packing, although it can be successfully done by
frequently changing the lye and using ample quantities of fresh water
for rinsing after dipping.

Clingstone peaches are successfully handled with curved knives and
spoon-shaped pitters in conjunction with ordinary fruit knives.
Different styles are carried at the general stores in the fruit
districts, and individuals differ widely in their preferences.

The weight of dried peaches which can be obtained from a certain
weight of fresh fruit, depends upon the variety; some varieties
yield at least a third more than others, and clings yield more than
freestones as a rule. Dry-fleshed peaches, like the Muir, yield one
pound dry from four or five pounds fresh, while other more juicy fruits
may require six or seven pounds.

_Nectarines._--Nectarines are handled like peaches; the production of
translucent amber fruit in the sun depends upon the skillful use of
sulphur."

[210] _U. S. D. A. Yearbook_ 505. 1912.

[211] Information supplied by letter.

[212] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No. =9=:17,
18. 1888.

This reference as well as most of those that follow, was found
in Bulletin 9, Division of Botany, United States Department of
Agriculture, the most complete account we have of peach-yellows,
whether of historical facts or of natural history.

[213] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No. =9=:18,
19. 1888.

[214] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No. =9=:19.
1888.

[215] _Ibid._ 19. 1888.

[216] Coxe, Wm. _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 215-217. 1817.

[217] Prince, Wm. _Treat. Hort._ 14, 15. 1828.

[218] _Report of U. S. Com. Patents_ 242. 1851.

[219] _Am. Pom. Soc. Rept._ 81. 1852.

[220] Rutter _Cult. & Diseases of the Peach_ 70. 1880.

[221] _Horticulturist_ =1=:318. 1846.

[222] _Am. Farmer_ 100-102. 1875.

[223] _Peach Yellows, Houghton Farm Experiment Department Ser. 3._ No.
=2=:27-28. 1882.

[224] _Horticulturist_ 503. 1849.

[225] _N. Y. Farmer and Hort. Repository_ 46. 1831.

[226] _Cultivator_ 255. 1844.

[227] _Can. Hort._ 15-16. 1878.

[228] _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 275. 1880.

[229] _U. S. D. A. Condition of Growing Crops_ August. 1887.

[230] _Ibid._

[231] _N. Y. Farmer and Hort. Repository_ 9. 1831.

[232] Yoemans, John L. _Rpt. of U. S. Com. of Patents_ 166. 1852.

[233] _Conn. Bd. Agr. Rpt._ 169. 1867.

[234] _Ibid._ 173.

[235] _Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc._ Pt. =1=:140. 1882.

[236] _Houghton Farm Exp. Dept._ Ser. 3. No. =2=:27. 1882.

[237] _Proc. Am. Pom. Soc._ 212. 1854.

[238] _Rpt. U. S. Com. Patents_ 369. 1851.

[239] _Ibid._ 378.

[240] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ =9=:42. 1888.

[241] _Ibid._ 45.

[242] _Cult. & Count. Gent._ 765. 1877.

[243] _Ibid._ 275.

[244] _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 274. 1880.

[245] Gulley, A. G. _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 249. 1878.

[246] Ramsdell, J. G. _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 306. 1882.

[247] Lannin, Joseph _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 11. 1884.

[248] Black, John J. _Cult. Peach & Pear_, 81. 1886.

[249] _Cultivator_ 167. 1843.

[250] _Horticulturist_ 37. 1846.

[251] Dunlap, Dr. F. S. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No.
=9=:57. 1888.

[252] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No. =9=:61.
1888.

[253] Smith, Erwin F. _U. S. D. A. Div. of Bot. Bul._ No.
=9=:68-79. 1888.

[254] Welsh, F. S. _Letter_ June 9, 1916.

[255] For a full report of this investigation see the Report of the New
York State Fruit-Growers Association 180-187. 1908.

[256] Hedrick, U. P. _N. Y. Sta. Bul._ =299=: 1908.

[257] Goff, E. S. _Gard. & For._ =9=:448. 1896.

[258] Welsh, F. S. and Anderson, E. H. _The Marketing of New York State
Peaches_ 5. 1916.

[259] Welsh, F. S. and Anderson, E. H. _The Marketing of New York State
Peaches_ 5. 1916.

[260] _Ibid._ 6-7. 1916.

[261] For a brief history of William Prince, the first, and his
contributions to American pomology, the reader is referred to _The
Plums of New York_, page 389.

[262] For a brief history of the life and horticultural activities of
Andrew Jackson Downing, whose likeness is shown in the frontispiece of
_The Peaches of New York_, the reader is referred to _The Cherries of
New York_, page 244.

[263] _The Plums of New York_ is dedicated to William Robert Prince
through the likeness shown of him in the frontispiece. A brief history
of his life is given on page 21 of _The Grapes of New York_ and
reprinted on page 24 of _The Plums of New York_.

[264] _Fruit Trees_, published in 1817 by William Coxe, is the first
American pomology. Though written by an amateur, during most of his
life a merchant, his work was done with so much care and exhibits
such nice discrimination in selecting, describing and discussing
varieties of fruits that until the later and more complete work of
Andrew Jackson Downing and Charles Downing, Coxe's _Fruit Trees_,
competing with several other manuals, was the standard pomological work
of America. William Coxe was born in Philadelphia, May 3, 1762, and
died near Burlington, New Jersey, February 25, 1831. He seems to have
inherited wealth and with it scholarly habits and such refinement and
charm of personality that in Philadelphia and later in Burlington, to
which place he removed in early manhood, he was one of the leaders in
literary, scientific and social circles. His tastes early led him to
the cultivation of fruit and he began to grow the varieties then to
be had in America and to import sorts from England and France so that
by 1817 he was able to say that he had been "for many years actively
engaged in the rearing, planting and cultivating fruit trees on a
scale more extensive than has been attempted by any other individual
in this country." Previous to this for some years, how long cannot be
said, he was the moneyed partner with one Daniel Smith in what, for the
times, was an extensive fruit-tree and ornamental nursery. Demands for
information became so frequent that he determined to put his knowledge
in print and his _Fruit Trees_ was the result. The objects he sought to
obtain in writing are well set forth in the title page as follows: "A
VIEW of the CULTIVATION of FRUIT TREES, and the Management of Orchards
and Cider; with Accurate Descriptions of the Most Estimable Varieties
of NATIVE AND FOREIGN APPLES, PEARS, PEACHES, PLUMS, AND CHERRIES,
Cultivated in the Middle States of America; Illustrated by Cuts of
two hundred kinds of Fruits of the natural size; Intended to Explain
Some of the errors which exist relative to the origin, popular names,
and character of many of our fruits; to identify them by accurate
descriptions of their properties, and correct delineations of the full
size and natural formation of each variety; and to exhibit a system of
practice adapted to our climate, in the Successive Stages of A NURSERY,
ORCHARD, AND CIDER ESTABLISHMENT." He was at one time a member of the
State Legislature and later a Congressman intimately associated with
Daniel Webster. He was, also, an honorary member of the Horticultural
Society of London to which during many years he was a faithful
correspondent. It was Coxe's privilege to see the very beginnings
of commercial peach-growing in America and through his nursery, his
orchard and his book he contributed much to American peach-culture.

[265] Theodatus Timothy Lyon, fruit-grower, experimenter and writer,
was for many years the leading pomological authority of his adopted
State, Michigan. T. T. Lyon, as he always signed his name, was
born in Lima, New York, January 13, 1813, and died in South Haven,
Michigan, February 6, 1900. At the age of fifteen he moved with his
parents to Michigan where until his thirty-first year, in 1844, he
worked at most of the arts and crafts practiced by pioneers in a new
country. In the year named, he began the career of horticulturist,
by planting a nursery at Plymouth, Michigan. In the nearby regions
French missionaries had early planted orchards and old settlers had
long been importing varieties of fruit. The nomenclature of these
fruits was in uttermost confusion. T. T. Lyon set himself the task
of ascertaining the correct names of these varieties in the old
settlements of the State. The result was he became the pomological
authority of the State. In 1874 Mr. Lyon moved to the famous
"_peach-belt_" of western Michigan, where he lived until his death.
Here, at first, he was president of a prominent nursery company. In
1876 he was elected president of the State Horticultural Society and
continued as its active president until 1891 and from then on until
his death was honorary president. In 1888 T. T. Lyon wrote a _History
of Michigan Horticulture_ which was published in the Seventeenth
Report of the State Horticultural Society. From the beginning of
his interests in horticulture in southwestern Michigan Mr. Lyon was
particularly interested in peaches--growing seedlings, testing new
varieties, planting orchards and in every way helping to forward the
great peach-industry of the region. He was probably, in his time,
the best informed, the most accurate and the most critical judge of
peaches in this country. In 1889 he was given charge of the South
Haven Sub-station of the Michigan Experiment Station which gave him
added facilities for studying and describing fruits and a means of
publishing, through his connection with the Experiment Station,
bulletins on fruits. These, for accuracy of description of varieties,
are still unsurpassed among American pomological publications. Besides
these bulletins, the fruit-lists in the reports of the Michigan
Horticultural Society and in the American Pomological Society, during
the last half of the Nineteenth Century, show the results of his
accurate judgment of fruits. A modest man, shrinking from publicity,
his printed works but poorly represent his vast knowledge of fruits and
his great influence in the betterment of American pomology.

[Transcriber's Note:

Page 144, "but appear he peach-growers" was changed to read "but appear to peach-growers".

Page 373, "Hazelhurst, Mississippi" changed to read "Hazlehurst, Mississippi".

Page 530, "Pavie Genisant" was changed to read "Pavie Genisaut".

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]

End of Project Gutenberg's The Peaches of New York, by U. P. Hedrick