526 A. JEJ. Verrill — Tlie Bermuda Islands. 



American markets. In early times they were preserved in different 

 ways and shipped to London to some extent. The present produc- 

 tion is from 10,000 to 12,000 bunches. (See ch. 27.) 



The Pineapple was also introduced in 1616 and flourished very well 

 for some sixty years. Large quantities were raised, about 1630 to 

 10 70, and many were shipped to England. But probably the long 

 voyage was not favorable for this trade, at that time. At present 

 they are seldom cultivated. 



Oranges and Lemons were also introduced before 1617, and flour- 

 ished luxuriantly. They were soon widely cultivated and produced 

 excellent fruit, much of which was exported to London, Virginia, 

 New York, and New England. For a long period, after tobacco 

 ceased to be profitable, oranges formed one of the principal exports 

 to London, and they were sometimes shipped even to Barbadoes. 

 It is recorded that in 1660 a vessel sailed for Barbadoes "filled up 

 with oranges and potatoes." 



There are records of shipments to New England as early as 1636, 

 but especially after 1644, and this trade continued for a long period. 

 Oranges were often shipped in large quantities to London, from in 4 4 

 to 1700 and later. The London Company, in 1677, sent a vessel to 

 Bermuda with special orders to take back 400 chests of oranges, and 

 many vessels returning from the West Indies to England used to 

 call there to complete their cargoes with oranges. At some periods 

 (1632, 1671), this trade was nearly destroyed by the Company pro- 

 hibiting the use of cedar lumber for chests in which to ship the 

 oranges. As they had no other material suitable for orange chests, 

 this was nearly equivalent to suppressing the trade altogether, 

 except as it may have been secretly carried on with the colonies. 

 At such times, and later, onions and oranges were sometimes 

 shipped in baskets made of palmetto leaves. 



Sometimes, as in 1659 and 1673, this oppressive law was so modi- 

 fied as to allow oranges and other native products, except tobacco, 

 to be shipped in cedar chests. But their cultivation greatly declined 

 from 1770 to 1840. 



The Bermuda oranges were very highly esteemed, though there 

 is no evidence that any particular trouble was taken to secure choice 

 varieties by grafting, until modern times, as is now universally done 

 in Florida and California. 



Most of the orange and lemon trees were killed or ruined (about 

 1 855-70) by a disease or blight, which seems to have been caused 

 mainly or entirely by scale-insects, which were neglected and 

 allowed to increase to infinite numbers. 



