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Where Orchards Once Bloomed

The Cape was at one time full of orchards of almost every description which bore luscious and beautiful fruits. Most of these old orchards are dying now, and few remain to be seen.

In 1934, in spite of sentiment, the government saw fit to have many of them cut down as useless, and most of the producing orchards have been recently planted. It is quite possible to grow good fruit near the sea, and there are apples, pears and plums grown in Cape orchards a mile or less from the ocean.

The most distinctive local fruit, the beach plum, grows wild in the sand and thrives among the dunes and inland as well. (This beach plum can be taken into cultivation and trained to be either a tree or a bush.) Its tart-sweet tang makes a delicious plum jelly that is sold at roadside stands the Cape over.

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