The morning call., 1891-08-29
0YERRIPE BANANAS.
New York Suffering From a surfeit

New York Suffering From a surfeit of
the Fruit.
The Metropolitan district, including New
York, Brooklyn, Jersey City and half
dozen other enterprising urban and promis-
ing suburban sections, according to the
Pittsburg Press, is slowly recovering from
a gigantic feast of bananas. The second
week of August 1891, will go down in his
tory with the sweet and sckening odor of
overripe bananas clingiHg to it as a MEN,
ory.
There are perhaps a dozen steamships
and sailing vessels, to say nothing about
sundry low, rakish sloops. engaged in the
banana trade. The banana-growers at one
end OF the line and the banana importers
at this end usually manage to keep
vessels coming and going with some
thing like regularity, but things
went wrong last week. The trade winds,
or the Gulf stream. or the pale moon, or the
photographic reports. or excessive sou'-sou'-
casters, or weak and unsubstantial nor
nor r'weSters, or something else sent no less
than eight vessels loaded to their gun'ales
with bananas and tarantulas up through the
narrows and to docks along South street
and in Brooklyn.
One large vessel, with 16 feet of deep-red
sweetness in its hold, came from the prolific
groves near picturesque Baracoa Another
craft, mushy with saccharine fruit from
fo'castle TO cabin, got its cargo from the
sunburnt and succulent section adjacent to
sultry Gibara. A third was waited by
sugary winds in from far-off Yumurri, where
expert yellow skinned cirados had stored it
full of corn-colored punches. And SO with
the other vessels.
The Aud swung up to her dock on
Wednesday. The matches had been open
all the way from Cuba. A canvas protected
the cargo from the direct rays of the sun.
1unerant slmo0ms famed the fruit. Ten
thousand punches were on bOard-enough
individual bananas to go around to all the
people in this entire fruit-eating section.
Hustling huckSters gathered about to buy
the fruit. The first few punches were found
to he soft. A little lower down they were
mushy, and below was one pulpY mass.
Half a dozen aged tarantulas crawled
OUT. out with dvnodtea htedaving stomachs. The
snap" in the cargo. 1t turned out
to be pudding" The Board of Health
would not permit the cargo to be discharged,
so the Aud was pointed nose down the bay
and steamed out to Sandy Hook. The
bananas, $4,000 worth, tons of sweetness,
were dumped into the deep blue sea. a
patch of the ocean looked as if it was suf-
fering from an incurabe case of jaundice
for hours afterward. By and by the merry
batbers at Coney Island were splashing in
banana undertow, swimming in yellow caps
and riding in on fruit-crested breakers.
The banana-laden steamers and ships that
came into port last week were the Alfred
DumiOS, Antonia Zambrano. Breidablik,
Johannes Bruun, Hippolito Dumois, named
after II. Dumois, the South-street importer
of tropical fruits; Gwent, Aud aud Ma
nagua.
1t is estimated that over 100, 900 punches
of bananas were landed here during the
weak. In many instances the cargoes were
not in as good condition as is usually the
case. While it was very hot and humid here
1t was even hotter between here and Cuba.
Bananas are picked green. An ocean voy-
age does not often ripen them.
The steamship Gwent, which lay at pier
13 East River, on Saturday, had banana
cargo. A heap of decayed fruit, fully six
feet high, lay on the dock fostering
in the sun. Half a hundred boys
delyed in the sweet mush for bits of
bananas that would hold together un-
I'll they could transfer them to their
mouths. Two or three dozen peddlers pur-
chased little mountains of very soft fruit
and trundled them away on two-wheel carts.
Big punches of bananas sold in the cut-rate
east side and economical west side for 20
cents. A small boy with penny could
secure a stomachfu of bananas.
An agent of firm of fruit importers said
yesterday that at least $4,000 worth of
bananas went into early decay during last
week.
a. wouldn't be surprised to hear of some
losses i'll oranges this week." he said.