The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-02-11
uNwnoLEsoME ORANGES
Now Being Sold .GneAp--What They Loci,
VIZ Like.

Now Being Sold ,GheAp--What They Look
s Like.
FLORIDA oranges" said fruit dealer
to nh INrrLLIoENcER reporter yesterday,
"aro being sold cheaper now than they
have been for some years. The crop
was unusually good the past season, and
tho sour Messin0s arc not in it with the
domestic fruit. Some arc selling at 50
per box Wholesale, and may 90 even
lower Try ono and taste for yourself
how good they IRE"
Tho reporter took an orange and ate
1t whilo walking up street, regardless Of
polite socicty'a inhibition Of eating in
public.
you scom to be enjoying that or.
angc," said q friend, who cane up Mt
that moment, land I've seen lots OF
other people eating them. When Twas
in Florida, We wouldn't think Of eating
M orange Of that sort" :
"What's tho matter with it?" he was
asked, rs tho last morscl was being
swallowed. "Ihe orange tastes all
right"
I'll show you what's tho matter"
was the reply, rs ho stopped up 10 n
fruit stand and bought Il nickcl's worth
OF tho fruit; "just watch me open one.
Do you notice anything peculiar about
tho skin that divides the segment Of
this orange"
"Ycs, it seems TO have IN occasional
little bit of white specli, and, though
this piece seems TO be juicy. yet it has
n queer sort OF pulpy feel.
THAT inilnitesiinal white speck is
nothing but mould, the beginning OF do
cay, the first sign OF rottcnncss. That
orange has been frozen. In 1856 there
woro thousands and thousands OF
oranges rotting on tho ground in Flor
ida, right where they fell from tho tree.
The state had been visited by Il freeze,
severe Tor that latitude, as the thor.
monlctor went down below 20' above
zero, and staid down for three days.
Tho oranges became SO many Jumps OF
ice, and began in q week or SO, when
warmer weather set in, to drop OF the
trees. In eating an orange n day or
two after they had been picked, nothing
particularly peculiar could be detected
in their taste, but soon tho mould be.
gan to show on opening the fruit, and
an orange placed on shelf, away from
XII possible contamination, would abso-
lutcly rot, though the skin remained
intact. | have known people to get
deathly sick from eating oranges, such
as are sold here in Wheeling to-day.
You can't taste the decay, when it is
slight.
: People may tell you that there was
no freeze in Florida this year. Perhaps
not, but oranges get frozen in another
way. Many cur loads are frozen in
transit, and are hurriedly dumped on
the market, rs soon as they arrive.
That is ono reason why so many sour
Florida oranges shipped. The grow
or fears to run the risk OF seeing his
fruit freeze ON the trees, or to hear OF its
having been frozen OH its way to the
North, and so he ships them before they
are ripe. BESIDES freezing on the tree
and on its Northern trip, the fruit is fire.
quently frozen while exposed for sale,
aud when the weather changes it begins
tomould. You maycat iewwith impun-
ity, but when they get very cheap pa
rents will be apt to letthcir children eat
too many, and though the consequences
may not be serious, thoy will probably
be disagreeablc. Not all oranges sold
in the North have been frozen, but it is
well to examine all OF them before eat
ing, to see that the white decay has not
advanced too far"