The San Francisco call., 1910-12-25

guess there viii be turkey everywhere
or other poultry we viii consume
about 400 dozen chickens 400 or 500
dozen OF these being eastern live"
from Kansas. Missouri and Nebra ska.
Sixty five cents a dozen for eggs sug-
Eests an explanation for this need Of
importa ton. because who would kill
the bird that lays the golden egg?
About 100 dozen geese and 200 dozen
ducks. and all the squads we can get
complete the poultry budget
The consumption of other meats in
holiday week is about IS per cent be-
low normal. so we drop to a paltry 900
TO ] 600 beeves, $500 to 1900 sheep and
lambs 500 to zoo hundred hogs.
One delicacy comes to this market at
Christmas which can not be found any
place outside Of California at that sea-
son-mflk lambs-the genuine article
right out Of the home pasture IN the
south Of the state. They average % to
IS hounds in weight and sell wholesale
about IS cents for the carcass. and may
be secured through almost any dealer
bv ordering in advance at but little
more than we expect TO pay for them IN
the spring. One carload has been the
quantity each year for several years.
Many a New Yorker would leave his
happv home for this, but here all un-
usual blessings seem to be regarded as
q matter OF course.
And how can you wonder, when you
look at the market stalls2 In one dis
NAV this day Of writing there are as
paragus. alligator pears, mangoes, per-
simmons (about three Of these weigh
q pound. and a pound costs 1215 cents),
rhubarb. fresh figs. pomegranates,
straw w-berries. pineapples, loganberries,
tomatoes. sweet and Spanish peppers,
green peas. eggplant, squash Of many
varieties casab melons, artichokes,
ctlcuubers and fruit Of the prickly
near. in addition TO the apples. oranges.
bananas and salad stuffs, potatoes and
vegetabl that prevail the year
hroush-more than 81 varieties-and
the man was not sure whether the
guavas and the papai ca melon similar
10 the casaba- but sweeter) win reach
us from Hawaii in time for the Christ
mas trade, or a little a. sr New Years.
These strange fruits are alluring
The prickly pear has colorings Of an
opal. The alligator pear merits con-
slant and earnest attention, but If you
insist on sampling a mango, follow
directions and get IN the bathtub. Sim
ply rolling UP your sleeves won't do.
OF sweet wines the years product
will run about 100000 gallons, and
comes principally from France, San
JOAQUIN Sacramento. MADEIRA. Kings,
Los Angeles and San Bernardino eoun-
ties Dry wines VIII run about % 000.-
600 gallons, from Sonoma, Napa, Ala
media, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and
Santa Cruz counties. About 1000 gall
Ions goes to the carload. so something
upward Of 10000 carloads represents
the available wine for our pie. The
crop, owing to the frosts in some local
fties at blossoming time would have
reduced the yield probably 10 to IS per
cent-about Fresno it caused a short
age of probably 25 per cent-but new
acreage coming into bearing this year
offset this loss. The grape yield is
about 1900 tons of wine grapes.
$4,000 tons Of raisin grapes and $4,000
tons Of table grapes.
One fact developed in connection with
our export wine trade is that wine
countries abroad where the years yield
,falls far below the average are avail
ing themselves Of our surplus to sup
ply their deficiency. and it is related
that other countries where no de-
fciency exists are taking It on its
merits We are shipping to Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and France.
I Think Of that-France. Her output
ordinarily IS about a billion gallons,
md her estimated shortage this year
about zoo, ,000, 900 gallons, so the utmost
we csn do for her this year will simply
ease the strain, but all we need is time
Ito develop. TO have the available