Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-06-04
FORTUNES SPENT IN FRUIT.
Astonishing Figures Showing What the
Desserts of the Wealthy Cost.

In some Of the very expensive London
restaurants You can order special des-
sort that will cost yOu anything from II
to tJo. These desserts will consist Of
dainties in the way of fruit. for which it
Is not too much TO say that the greater
part of the world has been ranSackcd 10
provide. Peculiar apples from Zanzibar.
looking rather like turnpS pears. in APP
pearance strongly resembling oranges,
from Northern Africa; grapes from Eng
lish hothOuses; and Australia will most
likely he represented by the Eiffel Tower
pineapple.
Of all fruits, Zanzibar apples are. per-
maps, the rarest. Dozens of trees to-
gether will only bear few of these
apples and the time for picking them
has 10 he carefully selected: they must
be gathered just month before they
would ripen, otherwise they will very
quickly go bad. These apples have been
sold i'll this country at f20 apiece, and, of
course have to be specially ordered. for
no frulterer would ever dream of keep
ing them in stock.
CuStard apples are another expensive
Injury. They can be purchased at prices
ranging from } shillings to f. each, ac
cordlng to quality, and, according IL
those whose Judgment in such matters
Is considered to he absolutely correct.
must he eaten with pepper and salt.
Two of the most fashionable fruits in
the winter months are the muScat grapes
and Strawberries, and until the end OF
January the latter are beyond The reach
OF men of moderate means. \ gentle
man not long since went into we'll
known fruiterer's in Regent street and
offered 100 To the manager if he could
provide enough Strawberries for five PEG
pie that evening. The manager unde.-
took to deliver the fruit within seven
hours. and then promptly proceeded In
wire forty different fruit gardens within
thirty miles of London for strawberries
Seventeen gardens provided the re-
qulred amount of Stra Wbelries (the re-
manning tWenty-three not being able to
produce single Onel. and by 6:3O that
evening the fruit was delivered at cost
of nearly los Cd for each strawberry.
There are several persons in London
whose weekly bill for grapes at this sea-
SON runs 10 never less than t2O. They pay
POS per pound for the best muscat
grapes. and receive ut least three pounds
per day At dinner party given some
time ago at Marlborough house the bill
for grapes amounted TO 40, while the
cost of each apple Mt the royal table was
exactly 0s. 1t is. however. by no means
the most distinguished or wealthy people
who spend fortunes in fruit. There is,
for instance, retired bootmaker living
near Brixton. who was informed by "a
friend that pears from Algiers have Il
distinctly pleasant flavor.
Relieved from worries of insists and
other cares incidental to his calling, the
retired bootmaker had time TO pay atten-
ton To such delicate matters. and
promptly proceeded to order from his
fruiterer's some of these pears, which he
found would cost him los each His
weekly bill for these delicacies now
amounts to f., while muscat grapes and
pineapples at IL apiece bring his fruit
bill in the week mp to at least Hl0-iust
$500 Il year in fruit alone. Curiously
enough. except in the matter of fruit, he
lives in Il very moderate, though com
Portable, style.
The manager of well-known fruit
erer'S establishment in the West End
informed the writer that lots of people
who see high-priced fruit in the win
dow will buy it just TO see what it
tastes like" and in this way these
samplers" as they are called by the
trade. are considerable source of profit
to many of the high-class fruiterers.
These samplers will cheerfully spend rs
on an apple or Il pear to enjoy the ex.
perience of eating such 4 luXury.-pe:; =
sons Weekly.