The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-08-07
RISKS OF THE FRUIT TRADE.

a this year heavy losers in the pineap-
pie branch of their business. They
say that large proportion Of every
) cargo of fruit that has come to the
l city so far during the hot weather has
) been entirely rotten. The schooner
Lucy NJ. jenkins arrived in port q
couple of weeks ago and reached her
dock about five o'clock on Friday af-
ternoon. She brought about 1922
900 pineapples, which had been load
cd at Abaco in the Bahama Island.
When she came up the river thin Jets
of steam were issuing from her hold.
The Custom House being closed no
permit to land the fruit could be OBJ
tanned, and the cargo had to remain
on board until Monday morning. On
the next day, Sunday, the thermome-
tor approached the nineties, and the
steam from the hold increased it's
volume. The permit was not obtain
ed from the Custom House until
eleven o'clock Of the following morn
ing and the steam was then rising TO
the hight of ten feet, rendering it i'm
possible for anyone to stand over the
hatchway. When the permit arriv-
ed the schooner was taken down to
Kaighan's Point, where the work of
unloading was commenced. The
first batch Of men who went down
below to preform the work were
compelled to beat hasty retreat,
the temperature standing at $40 and
$50 degrees. Finally the job was
proceeded with, the unloaders being
relieved every half hour A large |
proportion of the cargo was found to
be entirely rotten only 1850 pineap-
pies being saved out Of a total con
signment of102,OO0
Another vessel brought cargo of
about 100000 pineapples, and of
these all but 10000 were thrown
overheard. Another, the Carlton,
brought $4,000 out, only $500 Of
which were III for sale. 1-ne- loss CO
the importers may be illustrated by
the fact that the latter vessel did not
even pay her freight by about $3.50,
leaving the firm to which the fruit
was consigned to foot the entire in
voice value, as well as the duty, ton
age and other expenses.
"These are some of the losses
which are Incidental to the fruit
trade" says prominent importer.
1--WE always expect to encounter
some ill-luck with the pineapple dur
ing the hot season, but this year the
loss is rather heavier than usual The
evil comes from the wet weather that
has prevailed this Summer at the
Bahama Islands. The top Of the
fruit is like large vase, and contains
a large quantity Of water Apples,
water and all, are thrown into the
hold and being already soft in conse-
quence of having been cut in the rain
they soon begin to generate heat.
The average time consumed by the
voyage is six days. This is wind and
weather permitting of course. The
longer the voyage the less chance we
have of getting the cargo in fair con-
dition. Sometimes it is the same
way with bananas. We had cargo |
of 1000 punches the other day, and
out of these we only saved about
400. Even the pineapples which we
save out of the rotten cargoes, are |
generally more or less damaged, and |
we are glad to sell them to custom
ers at half a price"
The pineapple season generally |
commences about the LIST of May and |
ends toward the middle of July A
large quantity of the fruit is brought
to this port. One house alone re-
ceives from one and a half to two
millions during the season. The last
cargo to this firm, numbering 100,-