Sullivan's army, which came to this region in 1779 to chastise the Indians, found and destroyed considerable numbers of fruit-trees, among them many peaches. After Sullivan's raid the region was quickly settled by whites who, following the examples of the Indians, planted apples and peaches, the orchard soon becoming a prominent asset to every farm. Collections of pioneer papers frequently mention the great adaptability of these lake-regions to peaches. In Conover's _History of Kanadasaga and Geneva_[128] there are sixteen references to the peach-orchards about Seneca and Cayuga lakes in and about the year 1800. As in the South, the products seem to have been used chiefly in making peach-brandy. David Thomas,[129] Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, was the pioneer horticulturist, fruit-grower and nurseryman in this part of the State and soon after coming to New York in 1805, we learn from several references to his orchards and nurseries in his own writings, began planting peaches. All of the named varieties from the South and East were tried in his orchard and if valuable were propagated and sold from his nursery. According to his son, John Jacob Thomas, the pomological writer, he had in 1830 "the most extensive and valuable collection of bearing trees west of the Hudson." Through him the western counties of the State were stocked with named peaches and other fruits. Of peaches in the New England colonies, we need say but little. Except in favored parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, this fruit was little grown in these northern colonies. It is not at all probable that New England Indians ever planted peaches and for a generation after the whites came the struggle for the necessities of life kept them from indulging in so great a luxury as a peach-orchard. Strong drink was as commonly used by the Puritans as by the Churchmen in Virginia and peach-brandy would have been as acceptable but it was easier to produce cider, and rum from the West Indies could be had with little trouble. Still, peaches were sparingly grown in the New England colonies.