Lower coast gazette., 1909-11-20
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1909.
The Increased Cost OF Living.

The Increased Cost OF Living.
A MATTER of profound interest TO every IT.
habitant of the Parish Of Plaquemines is the IN
creased cost of living to those who are com
PEELED to buy their necessary foodstutfs IN 1fe
open markets. With dry salt shoulder selling
at II to IL cents in New Orleans, flour at 80 TO
81 per barrel and cornmeal at 2 cents per pound,
the conviction must be driven home to the NINA
of everyone that all possible effort should be
made to produce at nome our w toodstu1fs 10Y
both men and beast. The hog was long ago
classed as the Farmers Saving Bank. There IS
no money in hogs, however, if we have to ouy
food with which to grow and fatten them. 10
be economically raised it is essential that hogs
should have more Or less pasture and then to De
finished up for pork with corn, produced at
home and not bought from far up in the west
ern states.
We have frequently heard it stated that the
Parish of Plaquemines was one OF the largest
BUYERS of condensed milk out of New Orleans,
the entire population practically living on con-
densed milk, rather than to take the trouble OF
rearing the necessary o W for the home pro-
duction of milk. 1t is a recognized tact that
there is nothing so economical for a family as
the possession of a good COW. Of course the
COWS must be fed or allowed to secure their own
feed in a competent pasture. In these days OF
wire fences this can generally be arranged for
and thousands of dollars would be saved to our
own home people if they had more COWS and the
general welfare of the community would be
very much improved.
The garden truck industry is growing IN
Plaauemines Parish by leaps and bounds. Those
engaged in it are apparently all doing extreme
w we'll and making twice the money that they
could make in any other industry. Kitchen
gardens. to, produce vegetables for home use,
however, are not so much in favor. Our people
have not yet paid as much attention to them as
they ought. In fact, a good kitchen garden is
nearly as rare as a good flower garden and In
both of these we can surely do better in the
future than in the past.
The Parish of Lafayette is one OF the mos
thrifty parishes in the state of Louisiana ant
has a greater percentage of its acreage under
fence and under agricultural control than al
most any other parish If, the state. That parlsl
ships eggs and poulty to New Orleans by tn
car load, day after day and month after month
In Plaauemines Parish chickens are rather
rare commodity and very few people have then
for sale. They require considerable attentlo
and must have feed, either of their own gather
ing or by the owners supplying them. Tn
chicken crop of the United States is said to b
worth more than the cotton crop. Its value
so enormous as to be beyond ordinary compr'
hension. This immense value is reached by tn
fact that in the farming world generally ever
family produces more chickens than necessa,
for home consumption and in the western state
The farmers generally find that their ordinal
supply of eggs and chickens over and abo7
what are needed for home use will buy the gr
ceries for the household establishment
Chickens will do we'll in Plaquemines paris
although they must be kept out Of the floods
rain and floods of water that sometimes inva'
our lands. A word to the wise should be sui
cient and the rejecting people Of our pari
ought to engage more earnestly in the prodr
ton of food stuffs for home use and in this W
set an example that will surely become cont
geous and invite emulation all along the line,