“It was long believed that fruit trees would not grow in that baked and waterless plain around Horsham, but the agricultural college has dissipated that idea. Its ample nurseries were producing oranges, apricots, lemons, almonds, peaches, cherries, 48 varieties of apples—in fact, all manner of fruits, and in abundance. The trees did not seem to miss the water; they were in vigorous and flourishing condition.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Wipe, weigh, and pick the fruit, and have ready a quarter of the weight of fine sugar in fine powder. Put the fruit into an icepot that shuts very close: throw the sugar over it, and then cover the fruit with brandy. Between the top and cover of the pot, put a piece of double cap paper. Set the pot into a saucepan of water till the brandy be as hot as you can possibly bear to put your finger in, but must not boil. Put the fruit into a jar, and pour the brandy on it. When cold, put a bladder over, and tie it down tight.
Sources: The passage is from Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Rundell, New system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of of 1806, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — slate cloth, pear stamp.