HOW THEY ARE HANDLED DUR
ING SHIPMENT.
the Various Fruits.
Between 5,000,000 and
bunches of bananas are sold in this
deal is shipped
here and San Francisco.
warehouses in which this
stored and brought to maturity be-
fore selling and shipping are located
along North Third street. A
ble among these brings out many in-
teresting points, not only about the
methods employed in handling and
ripening bananas, but a deal ef other
tropical fruit.
Bananas for the St. Louis market
come from points in British
duras, Jamaica and the islands of the
Southern Atlantic Ocean. Port
Limon, Boco del Foro, Port Antonio,
Araranca and the Blue Fields of
Nicaragua are the greatest pro-
ducers.
The bananas grow on great planta-
tions, and as they are cut are car-
ried on the backs and heads of
natives to the big vessels which are
engaged in the business of transport-
ing ropical fruits {to the United
States. The fruit is green when load-
ed into the hull of the and
care must be taken, not only in load-
ing the cargo in the vessel's hold,
But also in preventing by the use of
ventilation, any sweating process that
would arise if the hold were allowed
to grow warm.
In this gre state the fruit in-
tended for St. Louis and
the Mississippi is loaded on boats or
cars at Mobile and near New Orleans.
From the landing stages where the
boats arrive. ot from the freight
sheds, it is hauled in huge express
wagons to the already
mentioned, a front of these any
fine day when a cargo
being received the scenes are truly
interesting.
As the big
their precious f
the doors
dlers, ragged
men scramble for such of
as, having ripened on the bunche
may fall to the sidewalks, and
scenes that follow the scuffle
amusing ih the extreme
Now that fruit has arrive
safely at its destination it require
even more of an ol
ness and
suitably forthe market.
are carried to long
steam pipes or
temperature at
to points between
The
{
Vessel,
en
points on
3 i
warehouses
of bananas is
tra i §
trucks. loaded
i
null u
reight, up
hundreds of Italian
and ne
3
urchins or
the
of watel
prepare
The bune
dark rooms where
eX peri nee Io
nes
the
degrees of
heat, varying from 30 to 75 degrees
Fahrenheit. The finer forme«
bunches, bearing the larger class o
fruit, are hung on
while the smaller sized go to the top
because the | sen
trates
rooms,
to the small
slowly than the |
The orders that
anas usually state
ness in which the
fruit shipped to k
must be dons 13 it
without doubt the most tender of
tropical fruits &«
First, the
big paper bags and these
toves Keep
pe
different
i
{
the bottom racks.
ilines
aang
greater
ch ripens m
wrger sort
rages ‘
for ban
s ;
the stage of ripe-
Foes
puye
Come in
him.
very carel
all
» handle.
bunches are placed
are then
dipped into cases lined with straw or
salt hay as a still further protection
against the changes of temperature.
In this packing ti
shipped to the most distant points in
the country.
Aspinwall was at time the
greatest port for the shipment of this
fruit to the United States, but since
the Pacific Fruit Transportation Com-
pany ceased operating
steamers, this
away altogether.
Oranges of every sort—navel,
gerine and grape fruit—are plentiful
in these great stock-rooms, and the
supply is usually drawn from Florida,
although California is called upon at
times. Of the Florida fruit the best
comes from Citra, Leesburg, Orange
Bend on Indian river Tampa, Gaines-
ville, Emerald Island and points in
wy are easily
one
business
Tangerines and
glove oranges, as they are termed by
the fruit dealers—are comparatively
new in this market
known, though in the Far South the
cooks use them in delightful salads,
marmalade and cake dressings or
puddings. They are higher grade in
flesh, flavor and price than the Flor-
more carefully in their wooden cases,
The long gray Spanish moss thet was
formerly used in packing is
away with by paper, tinsel and tissue
dhoets.
A few lemons are réceived from the
Pacific Slope, but the greater portion
are imported from points along the
Mediterranean Sea, and especially
from Sicily. Figs are received in bags
from Arabia, and these are the coars-
er sort. Finer, larger figs are sent
from many points in the Far East
and are beautifully laid one upon an-
other, with alternate layers of their
own leaves, and packed in wooden
cases, iy
Almena and Malaga in Spain fur.
nish the finest varieties of white
grapes and raisins. The grapes are
shipped in half-barrels, packed in
cork dust; the raisins in fine boxes,
whose covers are elaborately colored
lithographs of Spanish vineyard
scenes, or of dark-eyed sons of sunny
Spain making love to some fair sen
orita on the shady slope of a vine-
covered hill.
Dates, nlways in sacks made of
plaited ‘‘ vegetable palm,’”’ are re-
ceived from Arabia and Turkey, and
i
for it is much heavier and
LILIEF OF THE VALLEY.
of Blooming.
There is an interesting and curious
trade between Germany and this
country ir the lily of the valley.
Many thousands of those lily ** pips,”
as they are called, the roots, each
with a single tight-wrapped bud, are
imported at this season earlier and
later. As the habit of the plant is
well known, and it may be counted
upon to flower in from nineteen to
twenty-two days after the pip has
been planted in sand and placed in a
forcing house, the importers com-
monly make their contracts in ad-
vance with florists, and order in ac-
cordance with these contracts, The
pips come over in the holds of the
great steamers, twenty-five
together, tied with
and wrapped in moss. They are thus
delivered to the florists,
transfered to the forcing
five or six weeks from the time when
the meaningless looking pips have
Taft
ie
a vegetable
~
ing the jacket of some young
as she trips down Broadway.
sand they must be
pipes for the sake of the bottom heat,
and kept continuously in a high tem-
perature until the blossom is
advanced. They
moved from the pipes in
the time of bloomi
ed. They are ordinarily
are
order
off as it
after spray is clipped
ed for bouquets, or roots and all
transferred tting
in clumps 1.
The plants in the or ait
are much less attractive
blossom when made int
Many thousands of tl
Itivated
. wh eymd
1nYy be sed OL us
are
a
the open air. They
om Germany at almost a
sar, and they resist frost
ect hardiness, The
river
rng
@
bloom in the sp
the season for the
erop of the forcing hou
exhausted. When
ymers are exhau
¢ another resour
Thousands of lily
from
blo
hav
(rermany, are at of
ent
ke
cold storage, an there ¢
temperature for weeks
months, The develop:
plants is thus arrested
weeks before the tims
door bloomers will have be
ed,
are
part of the pips
brought forth
indoors or permi
i
in the open ait
» senson is further
Florists find that the ji
is most difficult
autumn flowering
lopment is ther
he flowers
f
inet wy
are
whole less satis
ter and spring
as the f
The pit
Jeautiful
expensive
$0) conts per dozen 0 about
per hundred. The price
:
1
porters is far below thi
to the
to florists is such that there isa
some profit in the plants
cut flowers retail as low as five
per spray. As
1 : w
only one set of blossoms ant
cach
florists know
count on in
pretty well
forcing the
valley.—{ New York Sun.
Ostrich Farming in Texas.
ing a good deal of attention, and
many prominent men are interesting
themselves in the subject. Prof.
and be-
lieves it guite feasible. The country
has a climate very similar to that
part of California where it is follow-
ed, and where it has proved wonder-
fully profitable,
The fittingup of a farm, purchase
of the land and birds, would cost a
considerable sum, but there is, it
seems, no reason why it should not
return handsome profits by the in-
vestment, Correspondence with a
number of wealthy Californians is
now going on and a company will
likely be formed and a farm establish-
ed in the near future. R. H. Wood,
the principal land owner of the is-
land, offers every inducement and
will aid in every way he can. It is
to our other industries. Arkansas
Pass Beacon.
Long Distance Firing.
A series of tests was recently made
at Bhoeburyness for the purpose of
investigating the conditions attend-
ing firing at very long ranges. The
weight of the gun used was twenty-
two tons, and that of the projectile
#80 pounds, which, fired with a
charge of 270 pounds, gave a muzzle
velocity of 2,860 foot-seconds, The
elevation of the first round was 40
degrees. The projectile fell at a
range of about 21,000 yards, or nearly
twelve miles. A shot at 45 degrees
elevation gave a range of 21.800
4, or about 12.4 miles. The
les remained in the air about 66.4
seconds, and its trajectory reached a
height of 17,000 feet, or about 2,000
feet higher than the summit of Mt.
Blanc, ~{New York Telegram,
CURIOUS COINS.
SPECIMENS PRESERVED
THE PHILADELPHIA MINT,
'
IN |
Some of Them of Vast Antiquity~ |
The Pet Eagle of the Mint-Queer
Things for Money.
The wonderful collection of coins |
at the United States Mint in Phila. |
delphin has been made at a cost to]
the government hardly more than |
nominal. It was begun in 1838, says
the Washington Star, but previously |
a custom had been established of pre- |
serving what are termed ‘master
coins’ ’'—that is to say, the first pieces
of new issues, Such ‘‘proof pieces’
are always made with unusual care,
and retain the beauty which is so!
quickly marred in circulation. Thus
the numismatie cabinet had already
a nucleus, which exhibited the his-
tory and development of American
coinage up to that date. Since then
the series of proof pieces has been
and kept complete, while
has supplied money for
foreign coins. In 1889
Congress
purchasing
pose, and since then $300 a year has
been given.
such small sums would
not go very far, but other means have
ben adopted for adding to and en-
A good many
secured by exchange
Of course,
Y
‘hing the collection.
ns have been
for merely their |
}
1 On
thousands of valuable ones have
1
obtained ul-
value by keeping a wate the
ign money of all sorts sent into
int for melting
In such money
vy now and then a rare and inter.
ng plece turns up and
United
issionaries
is rescued
destruction.
uls abroad, m
r citizens have presented nume
for this col-
ns to Unele Sam
most interest
oval plate
It = 4
is worth
id
nseription 3
Jananeses ou
#0 much popular dis
copper
nt is now bei:
{tl
efit of
: per ie 3
Ihe Chinese claim tha
had ined
§ IX) voars,
money {
Many of tRei
i ’
Osi TO have
i
possesso
It is on
a Chinaman dies =a
piece of money is placed in his mouth
same custom was followed in
Rome. but the coin was
tended to pay the passage of the de-
funct across the waters of the river
Styx. Some of the Chinese coins used
as charms are covered with mestical
characters and symbolic animals. The
Chinese have money of porcelain al-
The coin of the least value in the
world is Japanese, 7,000 being re.)
yuired to make $1.
Not less carious are the Siamese
Some of them are known as
“bullet money,”’ being merely lumps
of silver and gold hammered into a
rudely spherical shape, with charao- |
ters stamped on them. They bearasa |
device the sacred white elephant.
In Burmah the peacock is a sacred
animal, and for that reason it ap-
pears on some of the coins from
that country. A very extraordinary
Jurmese piece of money is an ordi.
nary gravel stone inclosed in a circlet
of brass.
There is one small case in the cab |
inet which contains only one solitary
coin. An inscription says that the
piece was ‘struck in the Philadel- |
that when small
ie
ancient
ROY,
coins,
ting caugnt in the machinrey, was
killed,
The first coins issued by
United States were half dimes of
struck in 1792, in which year
mint was established by act of
Congress, The first gold eagles made
were turned out in 1795.
So late as 1825 the erime of embez-
zing any of the coins struck at the
mint, or any of the metals brought
thither to be coined, by any of
the officers of the establishment
was punishable by death. The same
penalty was attached to the of-
fense of debasing any of the coins
issued. In the weighing room of this
institution #1,500,000.000 worth of
gold has been weighed. Formerly
the silver used by the mint was
mostly obtained from South America
and Mexico, but now the supply
comes from Colorado and elsewhere
in the West. The copper is derived
mainly from the mines of Lake
Superior, and the finest is from
Minnesota. Most of the nickel is
dug in Lancaster
vania.
The
money
in sand,
ward imprinted
of a hammer
medigval
adopted
f
metel into sheets of
the
sil-
was by
the
design being
upon it
and
times the
that of hammerin
the desired thick
was
ORS
hears, and then
hand.
Was 11
stamping
vented in 1888,
In various ages almost everything
bee sed as
has
Mexico, sugar in the West
codfish Newfoundland
Massachusetts
‘hy. tobaceo
Indias,
bullets in
logwood 11
early
Abyssi
5 in Chin .
Burmah
Rr iT in Siu
t= of Virginia, sal
f tea inTartary
ot land
gander
© Was RO
The Processes It Undergoes in Its
Evolutions.
y the main work
heated
Mit a
mer and is welded is
1 ¢
compile 14 d and
crews of men
in work, and each
an make 1.500 axes per das
the axe
{ wil oy sy » :
18 SOme supertuous metal st
forming
ering to the edges and
technically kpownasx a fin,
of the fin the ax is again
furnace and taken
sawyer, who trims the
The
glass in front of him
eyes from the sparks which fly off by
the hundreds as the hot
pressed against the rapidly revolving
saw. The iron part of the ax is now
complete, The steel for the blade,
after being heated, is cut by machin.
ery and shaped. It is then ready for
the welding department. A groove
i® cut into the edge of she iron, the
the blade inserted, and the
firmly welded by machine
Next comes the operation
of tempering. The steel portion of
the ax is heated by being inserted in
pots of molten lead, the blade only
being immersed. It is then cooled
by dipping in water and goes to the
hands of the inspector. An ax is
what is
To get rid
in a then
heated
in hand by a
ends and edges operator has s
to protect his
metal is
steel of
whole
The steel must be
of the required temper, the weight of
all axes of the same size must be
and in various other ways conform to
an established standard. The in-
steel does so by hammering the
blade and striking the edge to ascer-
tain whether it be too brittle or not.
An ax that breaks during the tests
The mint in which it was stamped,
however, was not in the Quaker City,
bnt in the city of Attalus Philadel.
phus, Asia Minor, from which Wil. |
linm Penn took the name for the |
town of ‘brotherly love.”” There are |
also some specimens of the gold shell |
money-—made out of gold beaten into
the shape of shells by African na-
tives, who supplied Portugese slave
traders with slaves. These were
worth about $1 apiece, and forty of
them would buy a slave. They were
ealled ‘‘spondylugs macutus,’’ and
it is alleged that from this term came
the word ‘‘spondulics,”’ meaning
money. a
A relic in the cabinet is a superb
American eagle, stuffed and inclosed
in a glass case. Its portrait has been
reserved on the silver dollars of
R36, 1888 and 1830, and on the
niokel cents of 1866. The bird's name
was Peter, and he lived at the mint
six years. He was known as the
“mint bird,” and flew about the cit
as he chose, nobody interfering with
him. He alway returned before the
Before the material of the ax is in
five times, including the tempering
process, and the ax, when completed,
has passed through the hands of
about forty workmen, each of whom
has done something toward perfect.
ing it. After passing inspection the
axes go to the grinding department,
and from that to the polishers, who
finish them upon emery wheels. —
[Philadelphia Record.
A sixGULAR disease is epidemic in
Southwestern Ohio and Southeastern
Indiana. It appears to be & fever of
the glands of the body, and is ex-
tremely annoying. The disease ap-
pears to be contagious, and itisa
gingular fact that the patient im-
roves after a sharp wind blows.
hose afflicted are compelled to take
to their beds,
Missouri has a most remarkable
phenomenon in Ray York, eleven
ears old, whose eloquent preaching
as been stirring 2 the dry bones
during a revival at Warrens yin
building was closed, One da
verches on a fy-
that State. Kay preaches
hes, wir!
A GENEROUS SACRIFICE.
For a Patient.
The layman's invariable test of
surgery is implied in his question,
“Did the patient get well?’ 1f the
answer is negative, he doegn’t care
for the operation. The doctor's
views are not so prejudiced. He
knows surgery when he sees it, and
recognizes the merit of it, when it
has merit, without regard to idiosyn-
crusies of the patient, When the
doctor says that the operation was
entirely successful, but the patient
died, the layman usually says noth.
ing, but looksdespondent. But even
a layman can understand the success
of that operation the other day at
the Long Island Hospital,
whereby the blood of Franklin
* al lowe
Collegs
Dr.
Pomphrey. Kate Pomphrey
gag, and was dying.
house surgeon at the hospital,
the blood.
two hun-
pflared to contribute
operation was done bafore
dred students in the
of the hospital
de a)
of good blood
the efforts of
chances
ly through Dr.
persistence
work right
did run ti
veins and int
immediate,
been blac
death
died twenty-fi
ceomnplidatio
gins
ol fx
mp's
ian
OG the wa and
i.—{ Harper's Weel
A Queer Florida Sink Hole.
Hernando (
beautiful
: was
I'l
| down
tince
tious Is 10 iol 100SC Ar
but that is rather undig:
down its forcibly
impressed on
depths, its size is
i
the ming
took to be saplings and stones de
d wahoo trees
circume-
stones that looked
velop into magnolia ar
Mmeasurin
eo five and «ix feet in
ference i
the
from
very
1t is hard to estimate the
bowl, but between
ang
the
brink
respectable size
while the bottom is about
this size and is
top.
most boughs of the trees
ground.
with beautiful
vines, and dotted
mosses and
over with vio-
ferns,
all
under the
delicate maidenhair fern
nd vines.
and it is hard for the stranger to re-
alize that the scene is in Florida. —
[Brookville News-Register.
What Smoke Consists Of.
Smoke consists of minute particles
of solid or liquid matter suspended
in the air. and its color depends
partly upon the chemical constitu-
ents of such particles, but also
largely upon their size. Exact expe-
riment has shown that as the size of
minute particles suspended in air is
gradually increased they rise to col.
ors varying from sky blue down
through the whole range of the spec.
tral scale. This is the cause of sun-
set and sunrise colors in the sky. Its
effects can be traced in the case of
the two kinds of tobacco smoke modi-
fied by the murky tints of the car-
bonsceous products. The smoke
given off from the heated surface of
the burning tobacco in the bowl of
the pipe consists of matter, all of
which has been highly heated and
very fully oxidized and decom d.
It consists mainly of exceedingly
small solid particles, exhibiting by
virtue of their smallness a blui
color. On the other hand, that
smoke which has been drawn Shiough
the tobacco into the mouth of the
smoker carries with it a relatively
1 r quantity of water and hydro.
carbon, which are condensed upon
the solid particles above mentioned.
The relatively large size of such par.
ticles explains the well-known gray-
ish color of the smoke which issues
AT ANNA
ESKIMO WEAPONS.
the Far North.
collection of
Edwards
In-
To the
gathered by Capts.
I'nited
interesting
fo
States
few 'yengs, have lately been
he hunt and chase,
other and relies, pre-
sented by persons in the
Northwest and British Columbia.
The Eskimos’ weapons were pre.
inspectors by the widow
of the late Capt. John M, (sen of
Astoria. Master of the sealer Polar
accordance with a requost
befare his death,
The most interesting of
the Eskimos in t
articles
Various
these curios
i8 a spear with a poiso
which is the mo
weapons
the ‘land of
spear entire
is made of
is thought
of high degree
or at least a
From ihe
ollection of
itwho is still in
Indians have
i th of their fore.
fathers of fi: ning the rear part of
sir female children
This was done so that
distinguished from
This woman
had a full back head, but a low and
retreating forehead. —{ Oregonian.
they might be
Knew the Apple.
A man of about sixty years of age
went into a store on Main street
Wednesday afternoon and stood by
the stove warming himself and listen-
ing to the conversation of the men
present. Happening to glance at a
barrel of apples by the counter, he
took one up and bit it. He stopped,
looked at the apple, and then stopped
reflectively. After taking another
taste of the apple, he broke out:
“Say I'd almost be willing to bet a
dollar that 1 can tell where this apple
grew. There is only one tree on
earth that has the flavor that apple
has, and it grew back of the house
where I first lived when 1 was mar
ried and set up for myself. Say,
now, didn’t that apple grow in Bow-
doinham? [I know full well it did.”
The clerk told him that a man from
that town brought'them in, and the
stranger said: ‘I have not been
down there in ten years, yes, fifteen,
but I remember this bittersweet
apple tree, and the apples here taste
as they did twenty years ago.—{ Lew.
iston (Me.) Journal.
Scientific Discoveries.
A scientist has discovered that peo.
ple eat more in cold than in warm
weather, He may have also observed
that they wear more clothing in win.
ter than in summer, and that they
maintain fires more constantly.
Science is constantly making dis.
coveries, but it sometimes overlooks
ThEX somaman phenomena. —{St. Paul
{