August 13, 1876. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTDBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



137 



was cultivated or a wild-growing Bpeoiea remaina undecided. 

 Professor Oswald Heer of Zurich, who has published an inter- 

 esting work on lacustrine vegetable remains, inclines to the 

 former view. Wild Pears were treated in the same manner, 

 but they are far less common than Apples, which must have 

 formed a much-sought article of diet. Among other vegetable 

 remaina accumulated in the lake mud may be mentioned 

 Hazel-nuts and Beech-nuts, both in great plenty ; also Water 

 Chestnuts, which doubtless were collected and eaten by the 

 lake-men, as they are in Upper Italy at this day. Their pre- 

 sent occurrence in Switzerland appears to be restricted to a 

 tarn in the Canton of Lucerne. There have further been 

 focmd abundantly the stones of Sloes, Bird Cherries, and 

 wild Plums, and seeds of the Raspberry, Blackberry, and 

 Strawberry, showing that these fruits of the forest were used 

 as food. According to Dr. Keller the lake colonists of the 

 Stone Age drew their sustenance chiefly from the vegetable 

 kingdom. Their animal food evidently was acquired by hunt- 

 ing rather than by the breeding of cattle, considering that in 

 the accumulations around the piles the bones of wild animals 

 outnumber those of the domestic species. MUk, we may 

 assume, formed an important article of their diet. — {Harper's 

 Magazine.) 



AUCTION SALES OF IMPORTED PINE APPLES. 



[We are indebted to that very useful Journal " The National 

 Food and Fuel Reformer " for the following notes and illus- 

 tration of one of Messrs. Keeling & Hunt's salea of West Indian 

 Pine Apples.] 



The sale coming off is the last of the season, the number of 

 Pine Apples to be disposed of by private contract or by auction 

 being not less than 10,000. Mounting a ladder we enter a 

 first-floor apartment, opening out in front to Monument Yard. 

 We tread over a mass of leafy foliage, a number of men being 

 busy in stripping the fruits. Others are engaged in assorting 

 them according to size and quality, and placing the Apples in 

 heaps on racks — " lotting them," as the phrase ia. The dis- 

 play, from the nature of the fruit and mode of arrangement, 

 is very effective, and is apt to remind one of a prize show. 

 In the centre and along the sides of the room the fruit rises in 

 pyramidal slopes, the separate heapa, relatively to the mass 

 displayed, answering to the natural excrescences of the rind. 

 The air is heavy with the aroma exhaled from leaves and fruit, 

 and partially developed in the sea passage, for, however airily 

 stored in vessels constructed for the purpose, a certain degree 

 of fermentation, acting artificially as a ripening process, takes 

 place in the holds ; and, indeed, were the fruit not plucked 

 before reaching maturity it would never see these shores. 

 As it is, every season — the season for Pine-Apple arrivals ex- 

 tending from the middle of May to the end of July — thousands 

 upon thousands are never landed, having experienced prema- 

 ture decay en route, and so are passed from the decks of the 

 fruit schooners on to barges and pitched into the Thames. 

 With an eye to effect, huge bunches of uustripped Pine Apples 

 with fibroua ligaments appended are hung in rows round the 

 roof of the show room, and here and there are set in pots, 

 to appear at some of the splendid banquets of the City guilds. 



We now learn something of the extent of the trade. The 

 cargoes of Pine Apples imported last year were fourteen, and 

 the number of Pine Apples 300,000, of the value of £14,000. 

 Last season the losses in Pines that had to be pitched over- 

 board amounted to 40,000. Eletheura, Cat, Nassau, and Pro- 

 vidence Islands in the Bahama group are the chief sources of 

 supply. New Providence has in its eastern districts the largest 

 field of Pine Apples probably in the world. From one spot 

 can be seen at a single glance a million and a quarter of Pine 

 Apples growing. The schooners are some 120 tons each, 

 specially built or selected for the purpose, and are amongst 

 the swiftest sailers, their average run being from twenty-four 

 to thirty days. The extent of the trade acting as an encou- 

 ragement to growers and shippers, the fruit is brought to this 

 country in as perfect a state as possible. Being fitted up in a 

 superior manner, the beauty and condition of the fruit is well 

 preserved. No time is lost on their arrival in landing, assort- 

 ing, and disposing of the cargoes. As soon as a Pine-Apple- 

 laden schooner is telegraphed in London preparations are made 

 for sale. All whom the sale concerns — and these embrace, 

 together with wholesale dealers and retail shopmen, the noble 

 army of costermongers, the latter each year taking a more 

 and more important position as buyers — keep themselves well 

 posted as to cargoes reported and lauded. The earliest time 



when West Indian Pine Apples were imported on any scale 

 into thia country waa in 1844, and thua the London trade ia of 

 comparatively modern origin. Previously the United States 

 merchants held in their hands the monopoly of supply. The 

 competition that thus sprung up, and the enlarged market 

 offered, induced speculators to improve the cultivation. The 

 earlier Pine Apples were very inferior to those now offered, and 

 would aet one's teeth on edge. The West India colonists, thua 

 stimulated, not only produce a auperior fruit but in greater 

 abundance. Steamers were tried some years since, speed being 

 in their favour ; but the heating of the holds occasioned by the 

 steam, and a certain odour from the engine oil easily affecting 

 the fruit and deteriorating its qualities, caused them to be 

 abandoned. On being landed here it is a necessity to lose no 

 time in stripping them. It is as well our readers should know 

 that even the crowns, if suffered to remain, live on the fruit 

 till they have sucked out all its goodness. 



We see an announcement of the sale, by Keeling & Hunt of 

 Monument Yard, of 10,000 Pine Apples, and are on hand as 

 the hour approaches and mix with the throng. The time of 

 opening is somewhat delayed, possibly owing to private negoti- 

 ations. The Pine Apples, the appearance of which we have 

 described, being the last sale of the season, the occasion haa 

 brought out some of the principal dealers. Covent Garden is 

 in full force ; there are here shop fruiterers from north, east, 

 and west, and from the Borough, and others up from the 

 country. The costermongers have evidently a strong contin- 

 gent — not that every peripatetic Pine-Apple crier is here, for 

 much of thia sale's business is done through representative 

 men, a number clubbing together in the first instance, and 

 buying at auction rates, with a slight commission. Coster- 

 mongers though they be, none of rough element developes 

 itself, except, pprhaps, in sundry jokes, for street parlance has 

 nothing about it of Addisonian elegance or Chesterfield pro- 

 priety. The great effort of each one having secured a catalogue 

 is, if possible, to get another. 



At last, amidst much buzzing and some apparent confusion, 

 the sale commences ; not, however, till some apparent sensation 

 has been excited by the entrance of the " Prince of Bayers," 

 the leading Covent Garden salesman in the trade, who ia re- 

 garded by the mass with an awful reverence, something like 

 that which in the financial line would be accorded to a Roth- 

 schild. He takes a central place, with a quiet self-possession 

 accordant with his position. The next movement ia on the 

 entrance of a " promoted costermonger," an individual who 

 has advanced himself from a wheelbarrow to a shop, and who 

 as the purveyor of a score of second-class hotels, and with a 

 wide business connection with his former brethren, ia destined 

 to be a formidable competitor. Other notable individuals 

 drop in, as, rapidly and methodically, the lots are put up and 

 knocked down. The first lots being the beat, the bidding for 

 these was with the leading men ; presently the chorus of voices 

 swells, till the whole crowd becomes animated and anxious, 

 the rougher sort interspersing their bids with humorous sallies 

 at their opponents, and now and then following this up by 

 pitching at each other crowns of Pine Apples. The auctioneer 

 does not attempt to praise the stock ; each man is an expert, 

 but a keen watch is kept on relative proportions secured, espe- 

 cially by leading buyers. To look at the everyday appearance 

 of the buyers a stranger would scarcely imagine that there are 

 men here who could buy shiploads. Presently the bidding 

 grows fast and furious;- the good nature that has hitherto 

 prevailed is no longer in the ascendant ; the keenness of com- 

 petition asserts itself, and red faces, contorted visages, and 

 angry looks attest the agitation that prevails. 



It requires an expert and practised ear to follow the progress 

 of business as bass and treble notes blend tumultuousness, 

 now suddenly settling down, and then renewed, on a new lot 

 being offered, with redoubled energy. Such is the interest 

 exerted by the sale — such, shall we say, market necessities, 

 that the room has long since become crowded. Bids grow to 

 vociferations, especially with the choice lots, and by the time 

 the sale is ended enough physical energy appears to have been 

 expended to make a hue and cry for all the foxes in the king- 

 dom. Some of the buyers have evidently gone in for quality, 

 and buy none but the best ; others go in for quantity, doing 

 no business unless they can buy cheaply. The piices brought 

 were fair, and it was really remarkable how cheaply some of 

 the lots went off ; but then the fruit trade, and especially the 

 costermonger trade in Pine Apples, is an extremely risky one. 

 With these the ability to sell qiii.-kly — and Pine Apples wUl 

 not laat — depends on the weather ; and with a Pine Apple once 



