Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-05
This Years Fruit Crop.

An Unusually Large and Fine Ffeld-A
 Peach Gut Predicted i'm August-Bana-
 mas Becoming More Popular i'm America
 Owing to Their Cheapness-Pinenpp1e
 Commanding High Prices-MiIlions of
 COcoanuts Coming In.
 From the Philadelphia Times.l
 Taking the season right through said a tsthe crop of both foreign and domestic fruit is large, the quality very good and the de- mand unprecedented. Of course some fruit is not as good as that imported in former years while the crop of another kind is much smaller than last season, but take the season as whole and it will prove one of the most prosperous we have ever had.
 The banana crop is remarkably large and the quality unusually fine. The importations to Philadelphia are already in excess of lasts year by 50 per cent, while the demand is double that of any previous year. This in- crease in the consumption of bananas is at tributed by the importers to the introduction of the fruit more generally among the public than ever before and to it's cheapness as a luxury They assert that of late the banana has been sold in the interior country towns and villages, where it had scarcely ever been seen before, and at such low rate that it became serious opposition to the sale of peaches Although the crop is unusually large there has been no g1ut in the market, as the demand has increased in proportion to the supply.
 THE BANANA, PINEAPPLE AND ooooANUT.
 Since Friday last single firm in this city imported 22 ,000 punches, and so prompt was the demand for them that not over 5000 punches remain unsold Those that the reg ular fruiter and confectioner regard as too ripe and not fit to keep on hand, and which must be consumed immediately, are easily disposed of to hucksters, who find ready sale for them at low prices. The prices during the season range from $1 to $4 per bunch, according to the quality and condition of the fruit and to the size of the bunch. At the present time bunch bearing ten or twelve dozen commands $1.75. Dead-ripe fruit, which must be sold immediately to avoid total loss, is sold to hucksters for 50 and 75 cents per bunch. As regards pineapples, the crop this season was unusually light, being only about one-third as large as that of last sea son. This is due to the prolonged drought in the West Indies, which prevented a second and third cutting of the fruit To those who are not posted upon the development of the pineapple it may be better to explain this state of it's growth. The fruit grows upon low bushes and each bush usually bears three pineapples, one being in the centre, with the others one either side, on outer branches. The centre apple ripens before the others and is therefore cut before the others have ripen- ed. The drought this. season only allowed one pineapple on each bush to ripen, and as a consequence there were no second or third cuttings. This fact of course reduced the crop to about one-third the size of last years. The present supply is not equal to the demand and the prices rule good and firm. Through out the season the prices alternate between $1O and $14 per one hundred, and at present small but fair fruit finds ready sale at $12. If such thiAg as glut in cocoanuts were possible it would have taken place several weeks since, for nearly 10000, GOO of these nuts have reached Philadelphia this season. Such a large crop was never known before, and one firm here, which has imported 6,00O,- 900 nuts alone, remarked yesterday: ''We have imported 200 per cent. more than ever before. ) This rapid increase in importation is mainly due to the increased demand for the cocoanut for Q hundred different uses. Near ly every day some new preparation, compos- ed in part of the cocoanut, appears in the 1 market, and in nearly every instance it com | mands ready sale. During the season the prices range from $50 to $50 per 1000, but | at present they can be had for $50.