Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-10
CHINESE VEGETABLES.
Cucumbers Eaten CooIcd-Sus
picious Looking Pods.

From the Neao York S5tR.
One OF the attractions which draw q
crowd of Cinnamon to Mott street on
Sundays at this season is the opportunity
to buy several kinds of alleged vegetables
which can be purchased at no other mar
keith this part of the world, and which are
sold there from street stands and wagons.
Areporter found it uphill work to extract
any information from the Cinnamon as TO
the names and the ways of using the va
rous Kinds OF vegetables that were being
sold.
A tall, graye-looking Chinaman whose
ptg-tail was of finer fibre than that of
the average laundryman, and VINO was
presumed to possess superior lntellt-
gence, said that one of the baskets con-
tanned "China cucumbers." They were
about six inches long, an inch thick, OF
vivid cholera morbus green, and deeply
wrinkled, somewhat alter the manner of
dried pepper pod. They looked about as
much ike cucumber as Chlnaman
looks like Yankee. They were selling
at the rather steep price tor cucumbers Of
AZ cents a pound. The vendors were
weighing them out on contrlvances made
somewhat after the manner of steelyards,
with tin scale pan at one end OF the ROD,
and weight that hung by string loop.
notched divisions there We're clusters OF
pin heads. Ii the Inspectors and Sealers
of Weights and Measures would turn
their attention to these scales their
places no longer would be sinecNrss. lSte
CL tnanIan with the inSsMi gentriQ0king
| plg-tafi SAID that these heathen cucum-
bers were not sliced up raw and eaten
with salt, pepper and Vinegar, and iol-
lowed by anti-cholera mixture, but were
~ No nrsa hx1s . 4
know whore they were grown.
In another basket were some larger
! vegetables, also of forbiddtng green.
| They We're OF the size and shape Of little
! brown jug without the handle. These,
the intelligent Cinnamon said, were Chi
nese squashes. Still another basket held
vegetables which can be likened to moth
Ing else that exists. Tney We're SUSPECT
ous-lOoking pods about foot long, taper
ing to point, a little less than twOInches
through at the butt, and fluted from butt
TO point. They also were intensely
| green. In his endeaVOrs to find out what
| these things were called and what they
were good for, the reporter awakened SO
much suspicion regarding himself that
| riot seemed imminent, and be took q wa k
down Park street to give the heated popu-
| lace an opportunity TO cool off. When ne
| came back on the other side OF Mott street
Caucasian youngster was helping a
Chinaman to sell vegetables SUCH as have
been inadequately described, and others,
out of covered wagon.
"What are these, and these, and these 2"
asked the reporter. pointing to the con-
tents OF various baskets.
Dunno, dunno. dunno" were the
| youngsters replies TO the questions, re-
| specuvely.
One of the baskets contained vegetables
| Or trult-WhIch looked like miniature
crook-necked squashes. In their color
there was yellowish and pleasing depar-
ture from the prevailing green.
Nv here are these things raised?" the
boy was asked.
Long Island" said he, and he
seemed to be sorry that he knew that
| much.
The Cinnamon were buying briskly, at
! prices which, from an unlearned COMPARE
son of price with the quantity obtained,
seemed in violation of every principle OF
| domestic economy.