Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-12
WEALTH NOW WASTED
That Might as Well Be Turned Into
Good Account for Itself
LOSS OF THE ELDERBERRY CROP.
An Output That Might Be Used to the
Greatest Advantage.
UNAppRECIATED SOURCE OF REyENUl

Attorney N. W. Shafer took carriage
ride the other day from Stops Ferry some
six miles back into Moon township, and was
impressed with the magnitude of unappre.
ciated wealth in this Commonwealth which
is yearly allowed to go to waste-the elder
berry crop. As usual, it promises abun-
dantly this season, much more SO than ordi-
narily, and it is always large, never being
blighted by frost The ordinary North
American species, 8. canadensis, is gener-
ally regarded by farmers as pest, and
editors of agricultural papers consider
1t periodical duty to inform farmers re-
garding the best time to cut the shrub so as
to prevent its spread, but last year, when
fruit was an utter failure in most parts Of
this State, thousands of families learned
that the contemned elderberry was not to
be despised as food product, and it was
learned that when properly cooked it is an
excellent substitute for apples, pears,
peaches, cherries, etc.
How 1t Is Most Palatable.
Despite the ignominy with which it is
treated, the elderberry continues to offer its
services in way that would seem 10 make
its proper appellation the "hum bleberry."
1t, when mixed with some other fruits,
loses the rank taste that makes
it. Objectionable to some palates
and is said to be very healthy food, and
some connoisseurs say the wine made from
it has not only medicinal properties, but, II
skillfuHy made, isyery paiatable-
| As 1t grows spontaneously In PennsyL
vania in sufficient quantity to supply the
II L yrhf
make ten-strike by putting it on the mar
ket in shape that would command patron
age. In all ages agriculturists, as class,
have feared to turn up aluminium when
blowing and have been under the impress
sion that it had to be tolerated along with
other agencies they considered inimical, but
within few months science has discovered
that the despised clay hitherto considered
only fit for the making of bricks possesses
potency that is like in a short time to dis
place in the many of the mechanic arts
metals hitherto alone deemed indispensable.
1t is said that apples and elderberries in
equal quantities make an excellent marmac
lade. and it is also said that cheap goods of
this kind find ready sale in Europe. Rye
whisky is making its way in Europe and
why should not the many millions surplus
bushels of fruit that rot yearly in this
country be made source Of revenue?
Wealth Allowed to Go to Waste.
Manufacturers scour South America in
hone to make a market for their wares,
while the farmer folds his hands and allows
wealth to waste. 1t has been suggested that
Turkey ought to be Christianized as mat
ter of business. If the unspeakable could
be taught to eat pork with a relish vast
addition would accrue to our import trade,
and the selling of stock to foreign nations is
notlopen to the same objection filed against
the exportation of cereals, as stock raising
enriches land while the culture of cereals
under slip-shod American methods rapidly
impoverishes it.
The suggestion that the elderberry might
be made profitable article of commerce is
not far-fetched as some of our most
luscious fruits, the loss of which would
be keenly felt In almost every household,
were scarce fit for human food centuries |
ago and cultivation has made them what |
they are, Wheat was once a rather indiffer- |
ent sort of grass, while apricots, plums, |
peaches and cherries in their uncultiyated |
state are of little value and would scarce be |
known alongside the cultivated varie- |
ties. There are, plenty of Peo-
ple living who can reco1lect |
the time when tomatoes were raised for
ornament and not for food, and as pigs |
would not eat them their opponents, when |
some people began to use them for food,
said that what hog wouldn't eat was not
fit for human being
The Sense of Taste Hereditary.
There is evidence that the sense known |
as taste is hereditary. Fifty years ago
many people in this section disliked the
flavor of tomato as much as the majority
now do that of the elderberry, especially in |
the raw state, while now there is scarce
child that will not eat raw tomatoes from
the start with avidity, and as an article Of
commerce they fill more space than any
other single vegetable commodity, aside
from wheat
The taste for parsnips is generally an
acquired one or an inherited one, and yet
they have become an important article of
diet. And yet the vegetable seems to have
been but partially domesticated, for if
allowed to grow spontaneously in an aban-
doned garden it in two or three seasons be-
comes as poisonous as in its originally wild
state, and is no longer fit for any known use
except muskrat bait.
If some one will cultivate the elderberry
until its flavor rivals that of the strawberry
he will have conferred upon humanity a
much greater boon than the fellow who