Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1881-05-28

body, and then taking the sticks III
agaiisand counting them. Wecount
ed seven hundred and seven car
bines. Two might have fallen int,
the oreek.'
Wien Bull had concluded til,
foregoing account of the battle hi
: turned to Major Crozier and said
! "Thele, I have fought the battle al
: over again to you, and this ! have
never done since the time l tough,
it out in earnest with Gen. Custer.
NcwlYOrl<'s Fruit ships.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE CARGoEs
/ ol1sguIT THAT COME TO THE
!. u:ssssronrs.
4 A aw York reporter in quest ol
infor alton about the business done
in the Importation of fruit blamed
some Interesting facts from Major
Bostwie's, inspector of customs at
Burling slip. The consumption of
fruit In New York is said to be
greater than in any othec city in
the word. The imports at Burling
slip have increased 800 per cent, in
the last twelve years, and now
there ale annually received about
two and one half millions of bunch
es Of bananas, thirty-two million
oranges ten million cocoanuts and
about three million pineapples.
Last year 100 cargoes of fruit were
landed there, and this business is
crowded into about five months,
from March to the end of July,
Major Bostwick says that he has
seen twenty-one vessels in at one
time.
The juicy fruit of the West Indias
is of SO perishable a nature that it
is essential to the trade that car
goes shall be landed and marketed
as soon as they arrive. Major Bost.
wick has known a whole cargo of
pineapples, which arrived in mar
ketable condition, to be spoiled IN
one night, when the air was hot
and humid ana thunderstorm
came on. The loss by decay last
season amounted to about twenty
five per cent. on pineapples, some
thing less on bananas and almost
forty per cent. Oh oranges. The
mannerin which oranges are gath
cred greatly aIssssts their condition
When they are beaten from the
trees with poles, SO as to be broken
from their stems, they do not keep
their soundness nearly so long as
when they are clipped from the stem
leaving a small portion adhering.
The shorter the passage the better
the condition in which the fruit ar
rives. If the passage takes seven
days the condition is first rate; if
ten days-tle average time-the
condition is fair; if the passage |
takes louger time the chance of
getting good fruit is poor. For
this reason the schooners of from
100 to 1SO tons register engaged in
the trade have lines like yachts,
aud skim the water at racing speed. |
But even fast sailer, if caught by |
northwesters, will sometimes be de-
layed so as to lose her cargo.
The red -skinnedIb bananas come from
Baracoa, on the Northeastern coast
of Cuba; the yellow ones from the
island of Jamaica. The banana
plant bears but one bunch, and is
killed when that is gathered.
Fresh plants are raised from the
seed slips which are found clustered
around the base of every bunch.
They take from six to eight months
to produce mature fruit, and the
bunches are cut for export while
still green. Oocoanuts are obtain
ed at the same ports, and the usual
method of loading vessels is to put
in first load of cocoanuts and then
a layer of banana lunches above
them. A platform is then put over,
and on this another layer of ba-
mana bnTC.es is2 placed. The
matches are kept oren as much as
possible in order to keep the fruit
cool, and if the rus lakes only ten
OF twelve days the ananas are fit
for market when hey arrive. A
schooner will bring Som 10000 to
$1,000 cocoanuts and from 1000 to
5000 lunches of bananas at time.
Pineapples come frem the Bahia
ma islands. The plant is killed
with the gathering of the single
fruit that it bears, and is repro
duced by planting seed slips, as in
the case of bananas. The ordinary
pineapples are piled together in the
hold and the loss from decay is of.
ten very great. The sugarloaf pine
is fine, juicy variety that is very
perishable, and to have 1t in con-
dition at all marketable a good
deal of the bush must be taken
with the fruit.
The oranges brought to this port
in sailing vessels come from Porto
Rico. They are stored on platforms
in layers, each about fifteen inches