The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-01-19

single line III Il uay HdI'
wosP ket report tina. mo Bel
gian mares are on sale" Comment
:sng on this it observes that the state
nment is not in any way remarkable,
s'for there never were any Belgian
fhares on sale as a food product though
three years ago il was promised-or
threatened-tLat they would 'glut the
markets." Just where craze like
Belgian hare mania definitely ends is
rather hard to say but clearly 1t has
ended when its fruits are no longer
offered i'm the marts. When ping
pong balls were first asked for in
store that didn't keep them any
more" it marked the end of that OBJ
session; and this case is like unto it.
The cult of the Belgian hare GER
tainly had some OtewOrthy features.
The creatures flesh was 10 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-
ta ;ion sealskin. The amazingly pro-
life qualities of these animals. and
che extremely small expense Of
bringing them TO maturity, were al
ways a triie hard to reconcile with
The fact that they cost ten or fifteen
dollars a pair. Still, prices were
prices, ana the only possible danger
ahead was that the animals would
in time become rs common as eats,
and as cheap. Bus, instead Of fulfill
ing its predicted destiny. the Belgian
hare has within a few years van
ashed from the ken Of even the back
pages Of the magazines.
It's fate Is b.: no means unique This
unreliable creature is merely one of a
considerable group of products, animal
aud vegetable, through which fortune
~ promised any one who has lit
ale surplus capital ana industry TO
dispose OF. Amohg these may be mem
toned the squad. the tulip, the uuah-
room the spring chicken. the wat r.
Cress, and tn" ginseng plgnt If it
merp LJt for these, the rural districts
would never get even with the buncO
games of the city or the salted mines
of the mountains. Of course We would
not Iusinulte for momcnt that each
and every one of these ia not alto
gethcr cStimable, nor that larg"
amounts of money have not been hon
cstly made from their exploitation.
but they al agree n 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 Il chicken
farm? one can begin his calculation
on a basis of the minimum number of
fowls, assume that they will lay only
half as many eggs as such birds ac-
aually do, assume that half the eggs
never hatch. that half the chicks die
iii infancy, that half the remainder are
carried Oft 10y hawks before they are
marketable, that an epidemic Of the
pip or other ailmcnt makes clean
sweep of half the poultry yard BIZ
ennally. an, thar the ruling prices
for brOlerS are cut in two and eX-
penses dDublpd-stil the calculation
points uneuingly TO a snug fortune
at the end of ten years, ana 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 a year can he realized from
an ordinary cellar. if only it be plant
ed with mushrooms. The ginseng
craze. which was based perhaps. on
more Tlluring promises than any of
its predecessors, is only now passing.
The Department of Agriculture, which
had promptly issued a bulletin warm
ing prospective growers that the sin.
seng industry was mighty uncertain"
was long in receipt of a half hun
drpd letters day from all parts of
the country inquring about the pros
poets. If fifteen thousand a year
took the trouble 10 look for trustworthy
official information. what must have
been the number who took the ad-
vertserS' statements for granted?
For all the unimpeachable demon
strationS of unavoidable profits. II is
nevertheless true that some men en-
gagged in poultry raising enjoy only
moderate wealth. We are told 10y
veracious marketmen that by no
means all of the mushrooms and
squads in the stalls were brought in
by the raserS 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.