Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-02
FRUIT FROM NEW SOURCES.
South Africa Arrivals in Washington
 and Other Changes.


 and Other Changes.
 The latest and most expensive luxury in the fruit line is the African plum" Most people are familiar with the fact that a great part of our fruit supply comes from California, Oregon, Florida and Delaware but few there are who realize that South Africa Cape Col ony) has of recent years become one of the greatest fruit growing countries of the world.
 Many years ago the farmers in Cape Colony were planting every acre they could purchase in grape vines, for at that time the celebrated Constantia wine, produced at the Cape, had great vogue all over Europe. AS time went by, however, the phylloxera came along and destroyed the greater part of the vines at the Cape, so that many wine producers became discouraged and turned their attention to raising peaches, plums, aprtcots, nectarines and similar fruit. They soon discov- cred that fruit growing yielded hand some profit. As Cape Colony's spring and summer correspond to our fall and winter they were able to supply the English market with fruit all during the English winter and spring. and from the beginning the Cape fruit trade has expanded, until now the South African fruit growers are not only supplying Europe, but this coun- try. Fine Kelsey plums, direct from Cape Town, are now on the Washing ton market, and peaches and nectar ines will soon follow from the same quarter. Tn short, South Africa is fast becoming a competitor of Cali fornia in supplying the eastern mar kets, for none of the fruit frowing re- gions on the northern side of the equa- tor can produce peaches and plums so early as the Cape.
 Several other interesting changes have taken place in the fruit trade of recent years. Two years ago the jui- cy and pleasant-tasting Chinese li-chee nuts were almost unknown in Wash ington, but they are now on sale at tn best fruit stands, whose proprietors | get them direct from Shanghai, throur ' | Chinese importing firms in New York. Since the Spanish war the city of Barracoa, Cuba, appears to have gained a monopoly of supplying this country with red bananas, while Cali fornia is cutting into the fruit trade of Florida by placing shaddocks OF ''grape fruit" on the local markets. California has not yet succeeded how ever. in taking any of the dried fig trade away from Turkey. Wild fig trees and the insect which fertilizes the cultivated fig were introduced in California by the department of agri- culture, but the first dried figs that California placed on the market be- l f01~o +Io 1xySI Go~ Is1s~. insects reached the state, left such a bad impression that now the Califor- nians are able to produce good figs no one seems to care for them.
 Another interesting phase of the fruit trade is that though California markets 8 considerable portion of her Malaga grape crop in the east, the i'm portation of white grapes from Spain have not fallen off in the east. The reason for this is due to the fact that Spain is shipping Malaga grapes to this country all during the fall and winter whereas the same kind of grapes ripen in California in June, when few people care for them. The latest California product on%Sthe mar ket is the ripe olive. Until the last few years one had to go to southern Flu rope or California to enjoy the luxury of ripe and unpickled olives, but a California fruit grower discovered a process of putting them up in hermet- ically sealed, alright bottles. so that they may now be eaten without 1eav- ing Washington.
 Of the novelties in the fruit line # is worth noting that tamarinds are no longer popular. They were not in much demand for lemonade. Ameri. cans preferring the old-fashioned 'lem- onades" to one made with tamarinds Washington Post.