Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-04-04
BERMUDA.
The Fruits and Vegetables that Grow that Trop-
ic Isle-- Bananas that are Not Bananas and Cab
haqes on Stills.
lCorres. \. Y. Timeg.l

baqes on Stills
(Corres. n. Y. Times.l
Nearly every little place has its patch
of bananas, and they give the islands
more of tropical appearance than any
other plant. The banana tree has a
sort of Cuban-South America look, in
separable from hot day. Some over
intelligent person will say that the ban
ana plant is not a tree, and for his special
benefit [ will call it a bush. It grows
from to 10 feet high, takes about SIX
months to mature, produces one bunch
of bananas, and then dies, and is gath
cred to its fathers. | believe IN some
countries banana plants live on and pro-
duce crop after crop, but one of the So
cial habits of the Bermuda banana is to
die as soon as it's fruit ripens. When
yOG see a grove OF banana bushes grow
ing around the back door, and few
half-naked, darky children playing
among the plants, the scene is truly
tropical. j have seen, / suppose, 3d.
600 banana trees on these islands, but
not ripe banana on any of them. They
cut off the lunches while they are green
aud let them ripen in the house. For
this reason l think bananas in New
country, and ours are generally larger
and sweeter. They have an unfortunate
habit of making a distinction here be-
tween plantains and bananas, which is
very confusing to the northerner. We
New Workers. don't know anything
about plantains, though we are familiar
with bananas. Anything that has a yell
low inside and a slippery skin to break
your neck on the sidewalk, we know as
banana The big and rich ones thatwe
like best these folks call plaHtains. l
was eating lunch out at Mr.. Whitney s.
at the Flats, the other day and made a
raid upon glass bowl Of the most
beautiful bananas | ever set eyes on.
They were such deep gold color and
SO smooth and symmetrical, hesitated
TO touch them at first, half suspecting
they were made of wax and only put on
the table for ornament. When [ found
out that they were genuine I
aid something about those ele-
CANT bananas. Bananasl" said half
a dozen scornful native voices; g those
are not bananas; they're plaintains!"
The oranges raised here are not the best
sort. They are generally pretty tart
and are used principally tor making
marmalade, for which they are particu-
larly adapted, or else cultivated for their
beautiful appearance, aud there can be
nothing prettier in nature than q green
tree, standing on q green lawn, loaded
with bright, shining, yellow oranges.
There are few Mandarin orange trees,
principally on the grounds Of wealthy
people. The Hon. Mr.. Harvey, of
Somerset, took me through his grove of
Mandarins few days ago. They trim
out the center of the tree and bend over
the branches, fastening their ends to
stakes driven In the ground, to let the
sun have full play on the tree. Bermuda
lemons are altogether unique. There
are thousands and thousands of bushels
here left to spoil on the trees. Lemon
trees grow everywhere by the roadside,
and visitors stop and pick the fruit or
tear off the branches. | have known
guests at the hotel, on their first drive,
TO come IN with enough sections Of lem
on trees to start young forest. The
lemons are at least twice as large as the
ordinary kind, with very rough skins
and very sour juice. They do not keep,
and this is why they are not exported.
But they make lemonades that would
gradients IN hot whisky punches whewi
Lines grow III pIenty-iust such lines
as we seei New York. This is the season
when loquots ripen, and there are thou
sands of trees loaded down with them.
They are a large, yellow plum, tart,
with peculiar flavor. When perfectly
ripe they somewhat resemble ripe per-
simm0n. There are a few cherry n0yas
and 1t is quite the thing for northern
visitors to go wild over the cherry-moya.
ANY one VINO is curious to know what
they are like, can make an exact coun-
terpart by mixing up cupful of flour
paste, adding q spoonful OF powdered
sugar, and putting the mixture IN the
skin Of green orange. There Is also a
remarkable vegetable called the paw
paw, which must have been invented
some time when nature was on a Jambo-
rec. Prickly pears grow IN great album
dance along the shores, with leaves an
inch thick-the plant that we know as
the cactus. though 1T is only one of a
thousand varieties of cactus. The fruit
is bright red, witt juice as red as
blood, and It's skin l. covered with mil
hons of little stickers that run into your
fingers and your mouth, no matter how
careful you are, and make you unccm-
Portable all day. Prickly pears are eaten
by some people, but they are not coa-
sidered luxury. If had to choose be-
tween eating them and starving to death,
I should give the matter careful con-
sheraton.
They raise all the vegetables mere we
do at home, and some more. The most
ridiculous of them all is the cabbage. If
you take stout walking stick, tie head
of cabbage to its top, and stick the other
end IN the ground, you have a Bermuda
cabbage. The farmers set out few
around the edges of their onion beds and
let them grow. When the cabbage is
ripe it is cut off and the stalk, with mere
" a little surprise at finding itself head
less, goes to work and produces another
head. Thus one stalk, like some New
Workers of my acq 'aintance, produces a
whole family OF cabbage heads All this
time the stalk is increasing III length till
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