318 ' THE ATLANTIC. [OHAP. IV. 
the manufactory from sixteen to eighteen pence a pound; but 
the crop is a troublesome one, the labor connected with it ex- 
tending over about a year, and the Bermudians find the culture 
of the potato, which lies only about one hundred days in the 
ground, gives much less trouble, and commands a certain and 
immediate market in America, a more profitable speculation. 
Maize is grown in small quantity, chiefly as a vegetable, for the 
sake of the green heads. Indian-corn is greatly used as an arti- 
cle of food, but it is imported from America. Cassava (/atro- 
pha manihot) is common in gardens, and thrives well. It is 
much used about Christmas-time for making a very favorite 
dish of the season —‘“ cassava pudding.” All the European 
vegetables grow in Bermudas, and, with care, seem to come to 
considerable perfection. It is singular that seed-potatoes, and 
garden-seeds of all kinds, including those of the onion and to- 
mato, are imported every year, usually from America or Ma- 
deira. It is generally understood that seed grown on the isl- 
ands will yield a deteriorated crop. 
Some years ago Bermudas was famous for its oranges; sev- 
eral of the best varieties were cultivated in gardens, and the 
fruit arrived at wonderful perfection; while the lemon, the 
lime, and the bitter orange were self-sown, and sprung up ey- 
erywhere, so that the country lanes and hedge-rows were redo- 
lent of the delicious perfume of orange blossoms, and the fruit 
fell off and rotted on the ground. 
About the year 1854, a minute insect of the family Coccide 
appeared on the orange-trees, and multiplied infinitely. The 
leaves, covered with scales, and glutinous with a viscid excre- 
tion from the animal, became yellow and fell off, the fruit drop- 
ped before ripening, and finally many of the trees died. Ber- 
mudas has never recovered from this plague, and now there is 
scarcely an orange grown on the islands. The wild lemons and 
limes still flourish, and perfume the air in the thickets about 
Walsingham and Painter’s Vale; but the cultivated varieties 
