Evening journal., 1893-01-11
A FAMINE THREAT ENED.
Potatoes, Meat and Produce
Becoming Very Scarce.
BUTTER AND EGGS WAY UP.

White Potatoes WIN Rise In Price to
st.50 IA BusheI Before the Week is
Over and IL is Feared They WIN Also
be scarcer In Planting season-Msss
Pork at High Figure.
In this zero weather when the princi-
pal articles Of food are getting scarce in
all parts Of the country, people in
Strengthened circumstances are begin
ming to wear looks Of anxiety The din
ing table has not been as bounteous as
the willing wives have desired to see
them, for a week.
To-day, however the outlook became
serious when II was announced in King
street market that this morning pur.
chasers would have to plank down for
Butter acc Eggs 400
And that they might whistle for
their potatoes all this week
The paralyzing news about butter and
eggs was not considered alongside of
the tidings that there we're no potatoes.
The workingman can eat dry bread
and do without a fried egg or hot cake
but IL Is grim meal when he has to be
deprived of potatoes They are
in his every day bill Of fare
and he wants them Lyonnaised
for breakfast, stewed and mashed for
dinner aud roasted for supper. Instead
Of enjoying these little dishes, however
be will now do without them or pay
fancy price which his pocketbook can not
stand. The probability is that he will
either eat In their places wind pudding
or dry bread, as -four is cheap and the
only product Of which this can be said.
IF this had been an open winter, said
King street provision dealer to an
EVENING JOURNAL reporter this morning,
1--WE would not be getting in such shape
as now Why, / tell you sir these
potatoes you see sell readily for $125 a
bushel and they're getting higher every
day Why before next week these things
will be well worth $3.50 a bushel, and
that is as much as we got for them three
years ago when they were higher then
than they've been at any time since the
war. Just think of IL, an article Of food
that viii be found in nearly every house
mold in Delaware, that graces every meal
at restaurant or hotel, selling at 81 90
bushel even II they want 100 bushels.
"Is Il true that the farmers have a
silent combine formed and are holding
the nutricious and staple food back on
'No sir, there's nothing in that. IL
farmer had his cellars full of white pota-
toes and you came around shaking at
him 81 20 for every bushel he had, he
would fairly tear up his floors to get at
them for you They have not raised
enough potatoes this year to meet the
demand and that's where the trouble
begins
''How is the quality this yeari"
"Why potatoes are nothing extra and
even the best variety this year are far
inferior to the products of last year.
There are, however, some good medium
sized specimens in the market.
what Producers Say.
81 have a cellar full, but intend them
for my own use, said James H. Clark,
OF Red Lion hundred, ex Levy Court
Commissioner Il never noticed such q
general scarcity Of the product, how
ever, and first class potatoes rank with
the smaller ones in being few and far be
tween. Much of the scarcity may be due
TO continued cold and stormy weather,
which prevents the farmers from bring.
ing them into market. They are not so
scarce in our neighborhood as up here.
Farmers VIII Feel It when They Plant
Potatoes are very scarce" said Com
missioner r. Lewis Armstrong, and
expect that the worst effects of this will
be felt by the farmers when they 90 tC
plant in the spring. The kinds Of pota
toes that they want to set out in theil
patches are early Rose, White Star anC
Burbanks. These will probably be 81
high that some farmers will not bother
about planting more than enough foi
their own use. The scarcity Is partly be
! cause of untimely planting last spring
Some farmers who had their plants Il
real early had fair crop while thei
. neighbor, who was much later getting
. his started had not enough for his owl
use
a What is frightening the local provision
dealers is the news that comes from
' Chicago that hog products yesterday
reached the highest point for ten years
= $19 10 barrel and that a number o
sales were made at that figure. The ris
is said to be due chiefly to the grea
scarcity Of pork and it said that still
higher prices are looked for.