The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1906-03-08
BUCOLIC
BONANZAS
V Y Y Y Y

/ III
4 4 single line in days mar
9ToNr ket report, thai mo Bel
gian hares are on sale" Comment
ing on this it observes that the state
ment is not in any way remarkable,
for there never Were any Belgian
hares on sale as food product, though
three years ago it was promised-or
threatened-tl.at they would 'glut the
markets." Just where craze like
Belgian hare mania definitely ends is
rather hard to say, but clearly it has
ended when its fruits are no longer
offered in the marts. When ping
pong balls were first asked for in a
store that didn't keep them any
more" it marked the end of that OBJ
session; and this case is like unto 1t.
The cult of the Belgian hare GER
tainly had some oteworthy features.
The creatures flesh was to supply us
with an excellent grade of canned
chicken or might be eaten under its
own name, for that matter. while lis
skin was the .aw material for imi-
tation sealskin. The amazingly pro-
hfic qualities of these animals, and
the extremely small expense of
bringing them to maturity. were al
ways triie hard to reconcile with
the fact that they cost ten or fifteen
dollars pair. Still, prices were
prices, and the only possible danger
ahead was that the animals would
in time become rs common as cats,
and as cheap. But, instead of fulfill.
ing its predicted destiny. the Belgian
hare has within few years van
ished from the ken of even the back
pages of the magazines.
Its fate IS b. no means unique. This
unreliable creature is merely one of
considerable group of products, animal
and vegetable, through which fortune
Is promised : any one who has lit
tie surplus capital and industry to
dispose of. Among these may be men.
toned the squab, the tulip, the rlusl-
room, the spring chicken, the wat.r-
cress, and the ginseng plant. If it
were not for these, the rural districts
would never get even with the bunco
games of the city or the sailed mines
of the mountains. Of course we would
not insinuGte for a moment that each
and every one of these is not alto
gether estimable, nor that large
amounts of money have not been hon.
estly made from their exploitation.
But they all agree in this one particu-
lar: it is impossible to figure out on
paper any way of losing money upon
them, while it is extremely difficult
in practice to make any.
Who, for instance, has not contem-
plated the establishment of chicken
farm? One can begin his calculation
on basis of the minimum number of
fowls, assume that they will lay only
half as many eggs as such birds ac-
tually do, assume that half the eggs
never hatch. that half the chicks die
in infancy, that half the remainder are
carried off by hawks before they are
marketable. that an epidemic of the
pip or other ailment makes a clean
sweep of half the poultry yard BIZ
ennially, anG that the ruling prices
for broilers are cut in two and eX-
penses doubled-still the calculation
points unerringly to snug fortune
at the end of ten years, and three or
four chickens to the square foot of
ground still left over
Similarly, every one Is familiar with
the fact that an income of several
thousand year can be realized from
an ordinary cellar, If only it be plant
ed with mushrooms. The ginseng
craze, which was based, perhaps, on
more alluring promises than any of
its predecessors, is only now passing
The Department of Agriculture, which
had promptly issued bulletin warn.
seng industry was mighty uncertain, u
was long in receipt of half hun.
bred letters day from all parts OF
the country inquiring about the pros
poets. If fifteen thousand year
took the trouble to look for trustworthy
official information, what must have
been the number who took the ad.
vertisers' statements for granted?
For all the unimpeachable demon.
STATIONS of unavoidable profits, it is
nevertheless true that some men en-.
gagged in poultry raising enjoy only
moderate wealth. We are told by
veracious marketmen that by nc
means all OF the mushrooms and
squads in the stalls were brought in
by the raisers in their own automo
biles. We ourselves know of several
persons who go on working for modest
salaries. in spite of the fact that they
invested in fifty ginseng roots back
in 1902. These things are strange
but we cannot doubt the evidence
New York Post.