Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-27

or INDUCING in dialect repartee. By the time
the steamer 10 ready to try the passage of the
capes nearly all the small boats have been
emptied and are scudding away toward their
homes and melon patches.
.ns. s,ss.y , %sl0n that r. dropped or broken
crowd OF lockers on. mostly the small boy.
The dismembered parts are soon gobbled MP
and disappear in gulp, while the sweet juice
besmears and drips down the faces of the
fsasters % the oil flowed down the beard of
Aaron.
POINTS ABOUT THE WATERMELON.
Among melon-dealers the belief is wide
spread that the fruit is good for kidney
troubles. The effect upon the kidneys is al
most as quickly perceptible as that Of aspara-
gus, while to the fevered tongue the taste is as
delicious as that of An orange.
Good, sound melons, not cracked. kept in a
shady place, will keep three or four weeks.
Many attempts have been made to keep them
all winter, but the fruit preservers have not as
yet made success Of it. Some proposed to do
IT by vanishing the outside. SO as to exclude
the air. Some say the best way to keep melon
all winter is to bury it in the ground where ii will
not freeze. No attempt has been made to keep
watermelons all the year round as a comment
cal speculation, except that a few have occa-
sionally been put in cold storage. and once in
while a gardener raises few in a hot house
loI tut Denent OF those VINO do not Ike any
tnlng that Is got in the nominal way.
HOW TO TELL GOOD MELON.
Many judge by the stem. When fresh the
stem is firm and green. As time wears on after
| the gathering the stem withers and darkens
proportionately Some dealers have habit of
cutting of this STEM which cuts off with it this
| simple method of testing freshness. Others
| can tell by humping it, good melon re-
| returning firm, solid sound. Much elasticity
hnr. 49, A. II
long pulling. Some people tell by pressing the
sides together, which produces firm, cracking
! noise within. This, however, many dealers will
not allow, as it is injurious to the fruit
The underneath or white looking side. which
is caused from its lying on the ground, is also a
good criterion. This is scratched with the
| finger nail and il the skin is tender and the
melon firm to the pressure Of the finger, nine
out OF ten will be worth buying
| SOMETHING OF A TID-BrT.
About this season is the harvest for the
! melon-slice men, who cut up a fifteen-cent
melon into dollars worth of pieces which are
eaten on the spot. mostly by the colored small
fry; They grasp these delicious morsels in
| both hands without ceremony or handkerchief
and disdaining a knife. bury their mouths.
| nose and eyes into this nectar of the Ethiopian
gods.
THE CANTALoUPE.
| This delicious fruit is just beginning to come
into market in respectable quantities. 1t is
rather early yet, however, for them to be good
Those arriving come from North Carolina and
Virginia, and bring from $3.50 to 81 barrel.
| A barrel will hold 35 to 40-the ordinary three
bushel barrel The best coming in now are
from Virginia, beyond Danville and Peters
| burg, but even they are green and must be
ripened after arrival-thus greatly deteriorat-
ing their quality. 1t will be several weeks yet
| before the nearby cantaloupes will be ayaila-
BILE, but when they do appear they are by far
the best to be had, and a relish before
| oreakfastlng, in season, heads the list of all
fruits OF tree or vine. The pale green and
yellow meat has peculiarly delicate flavor and
piquancy that delights the palate and sharpens
the appetite al no other fruit can claim.
| THE RICH AND JUICY PEAR.
Pears are also getting under headway. In
| deed, they are coming in briskly, though, as
with cantaloupe, in rather a green and undesir-
able state. The best on the market is proba-
| bly, the LIE Conte, which comes from Florida
Pears promise to be very plentiful and cheap
Some are also arriving from sections adjacent
to Washington the lower Potomac and the
| country around Frederick, Nd These ere the
Bartlett and the Bell, and bring about SO. so
| per barrel. Those arriving are mostly suitable
for cooking purposes Those sold at retail for
eating purposes are ripened artifcially and
have neither the flavor nor juiciness others will
have in a week or ten days from now.
OTHER FRUITS.
Good apples are scarce. Few of those here
now are really suitable for eating, but used
mostly for cooking. Some from about Char
lottesviile, known as the Blue Ridge Beauties,
combine both eating and cooking qualities.
They are a medium-size apple, with red color
| ing and stripes around the stem ends. They
wholesale at rs cents to 81 box-about one
| bushel to the box.
Grapes are coming in from South Carolina
and Georgia and some very fine ones are to be
SEEM The white varieties, large, plump punches,
bring 10 to l213 cents pound. The dark, pur-
pie grapes, while not SO attractive in appear
ance are as eatable, perhaps, as the white, and
sell at to cents pound.
From two weeks from now until the middle
OF September the market will be at its best, and
during that time Washington will equal in a
general assortment Of fine fruits and berries any
city in this country.