Imperial Valley press., 1912-09-23
The Poor Mans Meat

None Of these fads were sprung
with more real philanthropy than the
Belgian hare craze. 1t was the poor
mans meat" its flesh was "tenderer
than chicken and better Favored"
though it proved to be pretty tough
to mortgage ones home to buy
Belgian buck with a princely title at
$50 Everybody but the wise went
into this industry. Clubs and asso-
Citations sprang up with fecundity
worthy the hares themselves. Victim
izers and victims rolled in anticipat-
ed wealth and I am not sure but the
former established many fortunes
which will be handed down without
particular stress geing given to theh
origin. The industry referred proudly
to itself as "haredom." Fortunes in
pelts were made rapidly on paper.
Those who ate the less classy rab
bits were assured that hare meat con-
tanned S5 per cent of edible nutri-
ment, while the best beef contained
only 55," and it was freely predicted
that Belgian hares would soon dis
place all other meats. During the
life of this strange infatuation I do
not remember VI OHt StIlOuS attempt
to determine the commercial value
of hare meat and pelts in countries
where this animal originated, and the
fad was allowed to rage, leaving in
it's wake great financial loss, disap-
pointment and disgust. What remains
of this bygone craze? A valuable les
son. That is worth while, if it can
be applied to foolish outbreaks of this
kind in the future.
Canaigre did not become an epi
demic fad, though many lost money
in this hoax. Neither did ramie break
out in Southern California, though it
has shown symptoms in other parts
of the state. Some of the fakes that
are abroad among the farmers have
become so aged that we give them
great respect in spite Of ourselves.
One of these is the witch hazel meth
cd of locating wells. Dear readers,
if you doubt the value of discussing
these matters here, l will show you
the value of it. Farmers are a sus
ceptible class, and of all people they
should not be taught that a forked
peach tree limb will twist about Oh
"act up" in any way when carried
over d SlIcdH u WdlcI. oHc VI MY
most intimate friends in the San Ga
briel lvalley came under the spell of
water wizard about a dozen years
| ago while locating a well. The spell
| cost him only a few dollars then, but
| he had become infatuated with the
mystery of the thing. In a few weeks
| a smooth fellow came along with an
electric divining rod that would find
! gold-locate the precious stuff by just
| carrying the rod over the surface of
| the ground. My friends previous in
terest in the witch hazel and desire
| to secure a few tons of gold induced
him to buy a big interest in the cleo
| trio contrivance. He has not found
any gold, and, moreover, the fake cam e
near bankrupting him.
Uncertain Remedies
We all remember the enormous
| losses caused by the use of distillate
| sprays in the orange groves eight or
| ten years ago. One farmer remarked
| at the Pomona convention that distil-
| late spraying during this craze had
damaged the Pomona foothill orchards
to the extent of 100000, and charged
the poor condition today Of many
| groves to the use of this oil. The
economic losses chargeable to this fad
were not confined to the weakening
| of the trees. / was out hunting pow
er spraying outfits for deciduous fruit
growers of the north four years ago
and found five great power outfits
for sale far below cost on two ad-
joining farms at Charter Oak. These
machines cost about $500 each fully
equipped and had been lying idle in
the barns for two years, much to the
benefit of the growers who had been
giving them employment for several
seasons There was no excuse for
the prevalence Of the distillate craze
except that general lack of wisdom
and understanding which causes reit-