The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-29


Food necessities cost about 80 per
cent more today on the whole than
they did one years ago. Butter is from
TO cents pound higher, eggs s
cents dozen more, meat about Is per
cent higher on the average beans 25
cents a bushel higher, beets, cabbage.
cucumbers and onions higher, and
oranges, bananas and cherries higher
than last year.
Notwithstanding this general rise in
prices there are several bits of COM
pensation for the housewife and the
man who pays the bills. Of course the
most notable of these is the enormous
difference in the price of potatoes. A
commission merchant who last year
was paying $1.10 for his patatoes said
yesterday that st. Paul people would
put In their winter supply of tubers at
from Is cents to IS cents a bushel This
item more than makes up for the raise
in meat prices and the boom in eggs
and butter
Another consolation to the house.
wife is the fact that the outlook for all
sorts of fruits is good, and the prices
likely to be very reasonable.
Berries are but slightly above normal
in price and cheaper than last year.
Raspberries, now at their height, will
not be plentiful enough to fully supply
the demand, and dealers say late pur-
chasers are likely to be disappointed.
BlueberrleS are good crop in size and
quality.
Immense Peach Crop.
Commission men who have investi-
gated the peach crop in Michigan say
that it will be unusually large and that
the price of peaches will therefore be
very low. The early varieties of Mich
igan peaches are expected to arrive
within a week and viii continue with
out intermission until about Oct. 1. AS
far as can be learned from the present
conditions, the peaches will be gener-
ally clean and luscious, and the yield is
expected to exceed last years by more
than third. 1t is reported that in
some parts of Michigan the peach trees
are so loaded that dealers have found
ready sale for a patent fruit-tree
brace to keep the fruit from going to
waste.
While the early apple crop was not
as large as expected it is said the pros
poets for the late crop are excellent
and that the yield will be above the
average.
Melons Below Average.
Southern -watermeIonst are gradually
giving away to their fellows from the
sand fields further north. There are a
few Missouri melons on the market and
there will soon be- an. influx from Illi-
nois Indiana and Iowa. With the crops
from these sections all in melon lovers
will have to await the coming of an
other season to crafty their demands.
The report comes from Muscatine,
Iowa, that the melon crop in that vi
entity is almost total loss. 1t is said
that it was never SO backward at this
time Of the year before. The rains have
been too heavy and the cold weather
has spoiled the hopes for fine crop.
The season for hacking cherries is
completed and the results are said to
be entirely satisfactory. 1t is said.
however, that while, the California ap-
ricot is exceptionally large, it is of a
very inferior quality.
According to advices from agents in
the Santa Clara valley the prune grow
ers have taken action to increase the
market price of prunes. The prune
crop will be about Is pei. cent of what
it was two years ago.