Peekskill, New York

“ I have seen my fate, and must talk to some one about him, if only to myself, nature never having meant me to keep silence on any living topic that interests me.
Yes, with lovers in Boston, lovers in New York, and a most determined suitor on the other side of our own home-walls in Peekskill, I have fallen victim to the grave face and methodical ways of a person I need not name, since he is the only gentleman in this whole town, except—But I won't except anybody. ”

“ Heredity has much to do with a man's career. The village of Peekskill-on-the-Hudson, about forty miles from New York, was in the early days the market-town of a large section of the surrounding country, extending over to the State of Connecticut. It was a farming region, and its products destined for New York City were shipped by sloops on the Hudson from the wharfs at Peekskill, and the return voyage brought back the merchandise required by the country. ”

“ As we approach the Croton River the road takes a right-angled turn, down which a fingerboard points, indicating that Peekskill lies that way, but the old Post Road kept straight ahead, following the banks of the Croton until a favorable place for crossing occurred, when it took advantage of the opportunity and started back for the Hudson, in order to get around Hessian Hill. The marshy breadth of the Croton's mouth was probably too much for the bridge builders of early days. Along this road a short half mile is the one-time celebrated Black Horse Tavern. ”

“ The British held possession of the city of New York, and the island of Manhattan on which it stands. The Americans drew up toward the Highlands, holding their headquarters at Peekskill. The intervening country, from Croton River to Spiting Devil Creek, was the debateable land, subject to be harried by friend and foe, like the Scottish borders of yore. It is a rugged country, with a line of rocky hills extending through it, like a back bone, sending ribs on either side; but among these rude hills are beautiful winding valleys, like those watered by the Pocantico and the Neperan. ”

“ Peeks'kill, N. Y., a pretty and historic borough in Westchester County, on the Hudson River and on the New York Central Railroad, 43 miles north of New York City. It has a number of manufactories, stove-works, foundries, machine shops, shirt
and cigar factories, flour mills and blank-book and bookbinding establishments. The town has many fine churches, schools, a public library, military academy, convent and an Episcopal school for young women. Population 15*245. ”

“ Peach-growing in New York has never been spectacular. Along the lower Hudson before the Civil War and again a decade after it there was a thriving peach-industry such as there was in New Jersey and Delaware. A peach-industry is first of all dependent on quick transportation—the fruit must move. ”

“ New York’s theater district was like a ghost town in the early-morning hours. Except for a few familiar faces—the blind newspaper dealer at the corner of Forty-fourth and Broadway, the white-jacketed soda fountain clerk reading a magazine in the window, and the inevitable knot of musicians clustered at the corner of Forty-fifth street—no one was abroad. People in show business worked late and slept late. But by noon, Peggy knew, the streets would be crowded. ”

“ Poughkeepsie does not propose to give up her old-time "harbor name," particularly as it has been recently discovered that the name "Kipsie" was also given by the Indians to a "safe harbor" near the Battery on Manhattan Island. It is said that there are over forty different ways of spelling Poughkeepsie, and every year the postoffice record gives a new one. The first house was built in 1702 by a Mr. Van Kleeck. The State legislature had a session here in 1777 or 1778, when New York was held by the British and after Kingston had been burned by Vaughan. ”

“ It is doubtfully worth planting in New York as a peach of commerce but should find a place in every home orchard. The variety has several distinctive peculiarities which make it a pleasing variation in the peach-orchard and add to its merits as a home fruit. Thus, its transparent, golden skin and flesh make it one of the handsomest of all peaches; add to handsome appearance a somewhat distinctive flavor—vinous, rich, refreshing—and the peach becomes one that all agree is very good and one that, were the size larger, would sell in any market. ”

“ New York is very fortunate in having much land in all of its peach-districts that is easily prepared for planting. Growers are not called upon to profane the peach by planting it in a field of boulders as in New England nor amongst stumps as in some southern peach-regions. ”

“ Poughkeepsie is one of the finest villages in New York. It lies principally upon an elevated plain, half a mile from the east bank of the river, and in the midst of a region remarkable for its beauty and fertility. Although an old town, having been founded by the Dutch more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and lying directly in the path of travel between New York and Canada, it was spared the infliction of miseries which other places far more isolated suffered during the Revolution ”

“ Why is the peach so localistic? In particular, what has set the bounds of the three restricted peach-areas in New York? To some extent, of course, man-governed agencies have determined where peaches may or may not be grown in the State. Peaches must move quickly and the carriers must not dip too deeply in the grower's pockets; therefore markets must not be too distant and transportation must be cheap and efficient. ”

“ So qualified, sandy soils are ideal soils for peaches in New York. Some of the best peach-lands in the State are exceedingly stony, the stones being no detriment except in making the land difficult to till. ”

“ Peach-growing is an important industry in the State of New York. In certain counties the production of this fruit has been a main factor in the well-known prosperity of many owners of peach-orchards. Moreover, the peach, when at its best, is a luscious article of food and adds greatly not only to the enjoyment, but to the healthfulness, of our diet. ”

“ The dominant considerations in placing commercial peach-orchards in the peach-zones in New York seem now to be economic ones. Natural conditions are so favorable in any of the recognized peach-districts of the State and obstacles so easily overcome by those who possess common knowledge of peach-growing, that a crop comes almost as a gift from nature. ”

“ Indeed it doth seem as though, since thy people held the city, that we would never regain our old peacefulness.” 40
“I liked New York better than this,” went on the English girl peevishly. “There was so much more gayety.”
“But we are considered the more intellectual,” spoke Peggy quickly, who could not bear to hear the least aspersion against her beloved city. “’Tis often commented upon by those who come among us. Shall we turn into High Street, Harriet? Or does thee prefer to keep down Chestnut?” ”

“ The honest Rotterdammers no doubt thought my great-grandfather was doing nothing at all to the purpose, while he was making such a world of prefatory bustle about the building of his church; and many of the ingenious inhabitants of this fair city will unquestionably suppose that all the preliminary chapters, with the discovery, population, and final settlement of America, were totally irrelevant and superfluous—and that the main business, the history of New York, is not a jot more advanced than if I had never taken up my pen. Never were wise people more mistaken in their conjectures. ”

“ Of the several phases of temperature only extremes in cold are determinants in peach-growing in New York. The peach stands for all that is tender and effeminate in a fruit-tree and fares so ill in winter's cold that the limits of peach-culture are set in all northern states by the winter climate. The undomesticated peach is at the mercy of the winter wherever the temperature falls below zero and seldom grows spontaneously where the mercury drops even to this point. ”

“ By delaying winter-pruning until danger of winter-killing is passed many growers save labor in summer-thinning, since, as early as this, fruit-prospects are fore-shadowed.
It is interesting to record that peach-orchards are never top-grafted in New York though it seems to be a matter of rather frequent practice in the South and far West. There are plenty of occasions for working over peach-trees in this State; as, when poor varieties are substituted, or in changes in fashion in peaches, or on finding a variety poorly adapted to orchard-conditions. ”

“ Few picking appliances are needed for the peach in New York since the trees are trained so low most of the fruit can be picked from the ground or from a short step-ladder. The knack of peach-picking consists of tipping the fruit sidewise with a light twist which releases it from the branch without the bruise of a direct pull. The care in handling depends largely on the temperament of the picker—a coarse, careless ruffian cannot handle the tender-fleshed peach with the consideration it deserves. Women are much employed in picking peaches. ”

“ But there is not the least vestige of former human dwellings, so far as I could see: the top of the mesa of Pecos is, and was, a wilderness. It may have been the hunting-grounds of the tribe even in winter, but as for their exchanging their large pueblo at the bottom for a residence on the top it is very much as if the good people of New York City should spend Christmas week on the Catskill Range, or the Bostonians take winter quarters on Mount Monadnock. We followed the crest of the mesa for nearly four miles, ascending two of its highest tops. They are steep, denuded, and craggy. ”

“ Illinois is a mid-season, white-fleshed, freestone peach, still on probation with what result as to commercial possibilities we should not like to predict. It has been little tried in New York and growers in other peach-regions are not in accord as to its value. In size, color and shape of fruit, as the color-plate shows, Illinois is one of the beauties of the orchard. Yet, all things considered, the new variety is not as good as Champion with which it would have to compete. ”

“ S has been remarked just once before, I forget by whom, this world is a small place after all. The remark is equally true of New York City. I presume that a mathematician with a stub of a lead pencil and the back of an envelope could speedily figure out for you what chance Gordon had of meeting Peggy-in-the-Rain again. ”

“ Natural advantages are more common than man-made ones; so that suitable locations are mostly to be sought for in the centers of peach-growing near a shipping point where the haul is short, the freight service prompt, regular, efficient, with low freight rates and refrigerator service, where labor is abundant, and, lastly and very important, where the markets are so placed that they are not controlled by growers in regions more advantageously situated.
Advantages offered by local markets now determine the placing of a good many peach-orchards in New York. ”

“ Hardiness, productiveness and early bearing are the outstanding characters of Wager that give it a high place in the peach-list for New York. It is a yellow-fleshed, freestone peach none too attractive in coloring, always rather small and of only fair quality as a dessert fruit but excellent for canning, drying and all culinary purposes. The variety comes true to seed, or nearly so. ”

“ Family Favorite is one of the well-known peaches in the South-Central States but in most respects falls far short of Champion, with which it must compete, in New York. The tree is doubtfully hardy and the fruit scabs badly. The variety has two characters to commend it and to give it 214 standing among commercial peaches in New York: Compared with that of Champion, the fruit stands shipment much better and when brown-rot is rife, does not suffer nearly as much. In selected locations, then, when a mid-season, white-fleshed peach is wanted, this variety is worth trying. ”

“ It is interesting to follow the ups and downs of the peach-industry in the Peninsula. Epidemics of yellows, a succession of cold winters, over-production, transportation difficulties or expense, San Jose scale, have all been factors powerful enough at various times to make or mar the 100 fortunes of those engaged in growing peaches. Indeed, in following the history of this fruit on the Peninsula, one is forced to declare that peach-growing is gambling pure and simple. ”

“ Peckitt married, on 3 April 1763, Mary, daughter of Charles Motley, a sculptor of York. He died on 14 Oct. 1795, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Martin's, Micklegate, at York, in which parish he had resided. Peckitt had considerable reputation during his lifetime as a glass-painter, and made several new experiments in the use of coloured glass. His work is, however, of very inferior merit, and, certainly at York, incongruous and wanting in true artistic taste. ”

“ Social activities of the village were very simple, but very delightful and healthful. There were no very rich nor very poor. Nearly every family owned its own house or was on the way to acquire one. Misfortune of any kind aroused common interest and sympathy. A helping hand of neighborliness was always extended to those in trouble or distress. Peekskill was a happy community and presented conditions of life and living of common interest, endeavor, and sympathy not possible in these days of restless crowds and fierce competition. ”