Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-12
AN ASARcHIsrIC TARANTULA.

"Quite often We find tarantulas in the punches
Of bananas as they arrive. They make their
way into the punches on the tree. Luckily
they lose their venom during the VOYAGE and
by the time they get to this country are HARM
less. At all events, i never knew anv of NV
employees to be bitten, though il is no unusual
thing to see one or two Of the great hairy
spiders, with bodies a. big as the palm Of your
hand, crawling up the wall of my shop That
reminds me of an adventure 1 once had at
Aspinwall, where / killed no less than seven
tarantulas IN my room the day after took
lodgings at rather respectable boarding
house. When 1 Went down STAIRS
~ breakfast / told the landlady
Of my achievement: but she, instead of thank
ing me, burst into tears and declared that mad
ruined the luck OF her establishment for
seven years-One year for each tarantula slain.
such being the local superstition. Scorpions
and lizards also We some times lind IN bunches
Of bananas. / forgot to say Just now that
very curious popular impression exists to the
effect that the blood orange Is fruit produced
artitieially by crossing the ordinary orange with
the Reduced POmegranate. Some people
also imagine that the blood orange is a freak
OF nature occasionally found on a tree of the
common sort. Inc fact Is, however, that a
bloOd-orange tree bears nothing but blood
oranges; 1t ID n distinct variety.
COCoASUTs.
"How about cocoanuts!'
They are imported from the West Indies for
eastern consumption, though the west is sap-
Piled via San Francisco from the South Pacific
Upon being unloaded at the dock they are
carted to warehouses, where they are PREPARED
for market They get to this country with the
husks on, lust they come from the trees
These husks are first removed by skilled work
men, who tear them of by impaIing each nut
upon an upright steel harpoon and giving il a
yank. One man can husk in this way /. 900
cocoanuts IN day, which is marvelously rapid
considering what a thick and tough covering the
husk is. The nuts that have not spronted are
sold to retail dealers, but those which have
sprouted have to 90 through some further prem
aration. First they are put into steam chest 10
soften the shells. From the steam chest they 90
10 the opener, who cracks the she'll with ms
knife and removes the meat Carefully so as not
to injure il.
AFrER THE sHELL Is REMOVED.
THE nut, thus deprived of its shell, is then
taken to another man, who peels off the brown
skin with spokeshave, leaving nothing but
the white meat Next the nuts are thoroughly
washed IN tubs with hot water, after which
they are worked up by machine into three
shapes-the dessicated for family use. a coarser
KIND for bakers and strips for the CANDY
makers. Cocoanut husks are EMPLOYED In
tropical countries for making ropes. brushes
door mats and other such things; they are left
on during the voyage because otherwise the
nuts would spoil. An important com
mereial product is copra, chiefly used in
the manufacture of soap and candles. II n the
dried kernel of the cocoanut One Thousand
nuts will yield 500 pounds of copra. which l.
made by pressure to produce Is gallons of oil,
the residue being sold for chicken food. There
10 not much waste TO q cocoanut OF Nala9a
grapes $50, 600 kegs are brought to this country
yearly, most Of them from Almeria in southsrn
spain Pineapples nearly all come from the
bahamas"