The May-apple, or Mandrake, a wild fruit, is a favourite with
our young folks; it grows on a single-steemed plant, usually one foot
high, and is about the size of a plum, but with seeds, and in taste
resembling a highly flavoured pear. The custard-apple, or paw-paw, is
my favourite, and my boys go with me into the woods to gather them
when ripe. In the summer, water melons, musk melons, nutmeg melons,
and Cantaloupes may be seen in large heaps in the market, or in carts
or wagons, at 6-1/4 to 25 and 50 cts. each, some weighing 40 lbs.
Egg-plants, which you have seen as curiosities, are here brought to
market; some of them of purple colour, are as large as a child's
carpet-ball: they are sliced and fried in butter, and I am told
have the flavour of fried oysters. Cucumbers are unfortunately
superabundant, and the free use of them induces a variety of diseases
which are attributed to the climate. Squashes, cimolins, and cushas,
are gourds which are mashed up with butter like turnips; pumpkins
of this country are very sweet, and make delicious pies, or rather
cheesecakes; cranberries are brought from a distance, and pine-apples
are not very expensive, being brought up the river from Bermuda.
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