New-York tribune., 1895-08-11

,anry ilnds OF good size selling for
dozen The watermelon nn season ysry nes ca"ap Water
melons can be bought at retail an ths a NAY Nave
fifteen TO fy cents apcrs hsye had many melons
ssnoed on their hands, because 'he demand n@s ars
eenn oee FOR their cooling effect. but. unless the
weather is seasonably warm, no one carr sr,its of
iGT iii Kinds are fully as plentiful md considerably
eheaper now than they were year ago
, WATERMELON RECEIVERS TALE OF WOE
George A. Blank. direct receiver OF watet
melons at Park-place and West-st, sa'd' Inns
T., ,he worst watermelon season have ever seen
In the seventeen years that have Deeh j." @ VIC
business handling watermelons eSciusiVey
orst receipts OF Florida melons were iitte la'e'
nnJ tho mcIons poorer than usual, although they
coon became plentiful but, on account ps '"e vJ
w,ons wea, have come TO hand In such bad condition
,hGs season that commission merchants, In many
tns nss,nces were unable to realize even the amount
or nr freight paid. Transportation companies ex
acted guarantees for freight. but the inerchants
about ten days ago and melons stopped coming;
so that the supply now IN this market is very
smnnIIes from Maryland. Virginia and North Caro-
ina closely followed by those from NewJersey, so
pa, pnschns and muskmelons have been so plentiful
that they have interfered considerably with The
watermelon trade. Freight is very dear, carloads
from Georgia averaging about LOO melons each,
costing from sli5 a carload up to- In some exeep-
poriation. portal Then have had much trouble on
account OF short deliveries there frequently being
from fifty TO one hundred melons less Ia carload
than we're billed ed to the &C., eonsg@nses me Mel9ns by BY ear car
freight alone. to say nothing Of his losses on ac-
count Of the lack of demand, which leaves so many
melons on his hands till they decay ana aave TO be
thrown away. Watermelons are now selling In
small lots. such as are used by grocers and hotel
cents apiece. according to their size and quality
No one has any just cause to complain about their
price except the wholesaler, who has played
losing game from the word go;
The, watermelon supply for his market Is esti.
at from lO.OOo.CO0 to 100000 baskets
Concerning some other fruits, Antonio Zrcca, OF
were last week. The supply is limited ana there is
no pSsby * OF 0WsT prices of b FOR Thos @
other fruits In the market oranges are neglected
Oa supply @ With U" carsoes now due
and an unexpectedly small demand from the West,
hT to Se Msns XII s kills on @ s8
lemons. plentiful and unusually cheap"
CONDITION OF THE FISH SUPPLY.
Richard Marsland. the superintendent of Mr..
Backfords retail department in discussing fish
prices said: "Llobsters are unusually This
is attributable to various causes The increased de-
mand is not fully met by the number Of Holsters
annually propagated. and then. again. the summer
heat kills very many. Sometimes out of ten bar
rels containing 1000 pounds. We can get only 200
count. The demand for twopound Holsters has
Gently become very great from clubs. hotels and
size to split Into two portions Last Augus, lob
sters were much more plentiful and cheaper than
they The present price for good stock
is from Is 10 20 cents pound while. on the cor
responding date of last year they were bringing
only from l2ls to Is cents pound week
ago were selling Holsters for rs cents q pound.
and in private uptown markets they stl selling
for from p TO rs cents a pound. | know of no
reason why uptown dealers should charge much
than IL charged in the downtown markets
but their prices arc always higher than those Of
the downtown dealers.
"Weakfsh have been running remarkably strong
on . nd
guests Of the hotels around Barnegat Bay and other
seaside resorts in New-Jersey caught immense num-
bers. and after selecting few of the choicest for
personal consumption, threw away the others.
which seized upon by farmers and used for
fertlizing purposes Yes, II really does seem to
be pity that the fish could not have been sent
to this market TO feed the poor, who cannot AFFORD
to pay high prices. Not over ten days ago weak
fish. which are a popular and palaable fish, were
selling for from only five 10 six cents pound but
the supply has since then fallen off. and the price
ranges from eight to ten cents pound. Weak
fish seldom long after August l5 that the
Is nearly ended and no large supply or lower
prices be expected this year
"Buefish. which scarce and selling for IS
cents pound few days ago. now bring only 12is
cents pound, but they beginning 10 get scarce
again the Long Island coast. Bluelsh don't
like not weather. and they going further north
In search of cooler water. They cheaper
year ago than now. but as they run far into Oc-
tober they will again become more plentiful and
cheaper. Late in the season is the time when large
fat bluensh caught. Before the season ends
the price will probably so down to about eight
cents pound but no lower, unless there should be
a sudden gut in the market"