Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-13
THE sOUTHs FRUIT INTEREST.

however. seems 70 nlHgS upoh ehO III
Of bananas. About twenty
schooners are required to bring a sup
ply of this fruit to the New Orleans
market. Nearly all of these bananas
come from Ruatan and Utilla islands,
which belong to the republic of Hon
duras. And the singular fact is
stated that much the greater part
of the bananas thus brought to New
Orleans are grown by planters from
New England. The population of the
two islands is about five thousand, and
they subsist almost entirely on the
cultivation Of the bread fruit of the
tropics. Last year they shipped to
New Orleans alone two hundred thou
sand punches, averaging six dozen to
the bunch. From thence they are dis
tributed at advantageous railroad rates
to the cities in the Mississippi Valley,
thus outstripping New York and other
Eastern cities both in time and prices.
The Western markets will soon be ex-
clusively supplied by the Gulf ports
Plantains, cocoanuts, pineapples and
mangoes are also freely imported to
fill in the cargoes of the more profit
able bananas.
The Louisiana orange is also another
source Of strength in the New Orleans
fruit market. The crop last year was
sixty-fve thousand barrels, and it is
conceded by every person who has
thoughtfully considered the subject
that New Orleans has a bonanza In the
native orange. 1t is proposed to plant
all the lands between the capital and
the Gulf coast in oranges. The aver
age price in December, when the trade
is at It's height, is ten to twelve dollars
a barrel.
In the handling of these two pro-
ducts. bananas and native oranges,
New Orleans now leads New York,
and of course any other city in the
country. The trade is constantly in
creasing, especially from the Valley
cities, and last year it reached the re-
spectacle amount of five million dol
lars.
Fruit of all kinds ripens in the
Southern States several weeks earlier
than in the North, and the steadily in.
creasing consumption in the Latter
section causes a demand at all seasons
of the year. Melons are ripe on the
gulf before they are in bloom
on the lakes; and yet it If
only three days by rail from one
extreme to the other. Only last week
we noticed the success Of an expert
ment in this direction, by which Chicago
was supplied directly with melons fresh
from Florida. The Illinois Central
railroad management show a commend.
able degree of interest in the movement
and the Southern lines viii, we under
stand, afford all the facilities at their
command. AS fruit is sent by the traiI
load from California to Chicago, St
Louis and the Eastern cities, the Journey
requiring six to ten days, why should
not the Southern States engage in tn,
business Of sending fruit cars to The
North, when the trip can be made IL
half time? This question is put by n,
less an authority than the NeJV YOrl
| Bulletin, which never loses an oppOr
tunity TO put in a good word for South
ern development. 1t notices that ther,
have been more strawberries than evel
| sent to the New York market the pas
year from the South. And now one O.
our Atlanta exchanges proposes tina
the immense crop of Georgia black
berries shall be turned to account b,
being shipped to the North in a fresl
state or dried, arguing that they woul,
cost nothing but the picking, and tina
they would sell at a price that woul,
pay well for this trouble. Peaches, also
should figure more largely in thi
trade. A few struggling baskets o
these are sent North, but the quantit,
is insignificant compared with what /
might be. We have already referred
to the experiment being made by Judg
| Cunningham, of &C., ia, Of shipping
peaches IN refrigeratOrs to New York
Should it succeed, he will send forward
the produce Of twenty thousand trees
But he will have to be quick about it
as Delaware and Maryland hav,
between 100000 and 10000,
OO1 baskets to sell, and will soon glut
the market. 1t is stated by the Mem
pbis papers that heavy consignment
Of peaches have already been shipped
from North Mississippi this season
Nashville has done large business il
the expectation of early greens, pea
and potatoes. The farmers along the
| Illinois Central Railroad in Southern
Illinois find it profitable to raise
strawberries for the Chicago mar
ket ten days in advance of the
| Chicago season, and there Is no reason
why vegetables and all kinds of fruits
should not be raised in Tennessee and
sent to Northern cities at least two
weeks in advance of the Southern Hi
nois season. There is no doubt that
the cultivation of all the early fruits
along the railroads in the South, fol
Northern markets might be made high
" profitable; and we are encouraged K
know that the experiments of the pas
two seasons have been so uniformly
successful, that our people seem to b
awakening to the fact of the existenc
of this new and almost certain sourcr
of wealth, which has hitherto beer
/ wholly neglected beyond supplying
| home markets.
THE Cincinnati Enquirer says tina