Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-04-05
TROPICAL FRUITS
Hos They Are Handled During Ship-

meuf.
Between Ere and six million lunches
Of bananas are sold in this city every
year, and though St Louis consumes
the bulk of these, great deal is
shipped to points between here and
San Francisco The big warehouses
in which this fruit is stored and brought
to maturity before selling and shipping
are located along North Third street
A ramble among these brings ont many
interesting points, not only about the
methods employed in handling and
ripening bananas, but a deal of other
tropical fruit
Bananas for the St. Louis market
come from points in British Honduras,
Jamaica and the islands of the south
ern Atlantic ocean Port Limon. Boco
del Fq~o, Port Antonio, Araranca and
the Blue Fields of Nicaragua are the
greatest producers
The bananas grow on great planta-
lions. and as they are cut are carried
on the backs and heads of natives to
the hig vessels which are engaged in
the business Of transporting tropical
fruits to the United States. The fruit
is green when loaded into the hull of
the vessel, and care must be taken. not
| only in loading the cargo in the vessels
| hold. but also in preventing, by the
use of ventilation, any sweating process
that would arise If the hold were al
lowed to grow WARM
In this green state the fruit intend
ed for St Lonis and points On the Mis-
sissippi is loaded on boats or cars at
Mobile and near New Orleans. From
| the landing stages where the boats ar
rive, or from the freight shed, it it
hauled in huge express wagons to the
warehouses already mentioned. and in
front of these any fine day when q car
go of bananas is being received the
| scenes are truly interesting.
As the big trucks, loaded with their
precious freight, pull up before the
doors hundreds of italian peddlers.
ragged urchins and negro women
scram BILE for such of the fruit as, hav-
ing ripened on the punches. may fall
| to the sidewalks. and the scenes that
| follow the scuf1e are amusing in the
extreme.
Now that the fruit has arrived safely
at its destination it requires even more
of an outlay of watchfulness and ex-
perience to prepare It suitably for the
market The lunches are carried to
| long dark rooms where steam pipes or
| gas stoves keep the temperature at
different degrees of heat, varying from
fifty to seventy-fve degrees Fahren-
heit. The finer formed punches, bear
ing the larger class Of fruit. are hung
on the bottom racks, while the smaller
| sized go to the top because the heat
rises and concentrates along the cell
ings of these rooms, thereby giving
greater force to the small fruit, which
ripens more slowly than the larger sort
The orders that come in for bananas
| usually state the stage of ripeness in
which the buyer desires the fruit
shipped to him. The packing must be
done very carefully, as it is without
| doubt the most tender of all tropical
| fruits to handle.
| First. the punches are placed in big
| paper bags and these are then dipped
| into cases lined with straw or salt hay
as a still further protection against the
/ changes Of tempature- In this packing
they are easily shipped to the most dis.
! tant points in the country
Aspinwall was at one time the great
est port for the shipment of this fruit
/ to the United States. but since the Pa
| cifc Fruit Transportat Co. ceased
! operating their line of steamers, this
| business has fallen away altogether
/ Oranges of every sort-navel, tanger
| inc and grape frnit-are plentiful in
/ these great stock-rooms, and the sup.
| ply is usually drawn from Florida, al
| though California is ca He'd upon al
| times OF the Florida fruit the best
| comes from Citra, Leesburg, Orange
Bend on the Indian river, Tampa. Gaines
vile, Emerald island and points in
| the south and southeast of the state.
Tangerines and grape fruit-kid-glove
oranges, as termed by the fruit deal
| ers-are comparatively new in this
| market and are little known, though
in the far south the cooks use them in
delightful salads, marmalades and
cake dressings Or buildings. They are
higher grade in flesh, favor and price
than the Florida oranges, and are usu-
ally packed more carefully in their
| wooden cases The long gray Spanish
moss that was formerly used in pack
ing is done away with by paper, tinsei
and tissue sheets
A few lemons are received from the
are imported from points along the
Mediterranean sea. and especially
from Sicily. Figs are received in bags
from Arabia and these are the coarser
sort Finer, larger figs are sent from
many points in the far east and are
beautifully laid one upon another, with
alternate layers of their own leaves.
and packed In wooden cases
Almena and Malaga in Spain furnish
the finest varieties of white grapes and
raisins. The grapes are all shipped In
half barrels. packed in cork DUST the
raisins in fine boxes, whose covers are
deliberately colored Autographs of
Spanish vineyard scenes, or of dark
eyed sons of sunny Spain making love
to some fair senorita on heshady slope
of a vine-covered hill
Dates. always In sacks made Of plated
''vegeta BILE palm" are received from
Arabia and Turkey, and this quality
is known as the Fard date, for it is
much heavier and darker in color than
the Golden date which comes only from
Persia--St- Louis Repu bic.
How the Eskimos XIII Wolves.