Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-11-09
EVENING CHAT

1t only takes a trip through any one
of Harrisburg's markets on a Wednes-
| day or Saturday to impress one how
| applicable to Pennsylvania's garden
| district. the Susquehanna Valley, are
| those two lines of the psalmist:
HE maketh peace in thy borders
and filleth thee with the finest
of the wheat"
Not in years has there been such an
| abundance OF the good things of the
earth displayed upon the stalls of the
| markets in Chestnut. Market, Kelker
| and Verbeke streets. Every product
| or the farm appears to have yielded
It's increase and the thought is borne
| In on one that Harrisburg is certainly
] fortunate even among the thousands
| or cities of country blessed with
| record-breaking crops to have such q
| supply at it's doors. 1t is true that
| with the horn of plenty running over
prices for some things are abnormally
| hlgh. While many mills and factories
are still suffering from Industrial de-
preston. no increase in the purchasing
| power of money, which, economists
| say, should be the accompaniment, has
struck anyone with force. Meat con-
tinues high in price and war bids fair
TO send IT higher, and wheat, already
selling at war figures. may rise again.
| But the fact remains that the yields of
the orchards, the fields and the gar
| dens are something wonderful and
fortunate. Prices for these things are
not as Droportionately high as for the
two great staples and the supply on
Saturday, for instance, was something
which attracted the attention of even
passers-by and rejoiced the heart of
the housekeeper. This part of the
State has always been an object of
4 fVNNn - l.
| large cities of Pennsylvania and indeed
| many people from Industrial COM
munities have congratulated Harris
| burg with its neighbors of Lancaster
York, Reading, Lebanon and other
| places in this district upon the food
supply. II is to be regretted that this
same district should be the happy
hunting ground of the commission
buyers and that much that is raised
here should not yield the profit to the
man who grows it. but it has always
| been the case that the district raises
more than it needs and there is a
variety of food offered in Harrisburg
twice q week that is scarcely equaled
anywhere.
Speaking of country life, not only
was this year so favorable to all crops,
but it seems that Providence, in view
| of the war which is devastating the
| grain bearing lands of Europe, has
| given an unusual brand of weather to
| our country in order to enable as large
an area of land as possible to be
( ploughed and seeded for wheat. High
prices stimulate wheat growing as they
| do everything else and there has been
tremendous acreage put into wheat
| in this region. The weather has been
very favorable to this work and indeed
has been of such variety as to enable
much work to be done about farms
which will inure to advantage in the
| Spring. Perhaps the greatest trouble
| has been with fertilizer, which has
been upset to a certain extent by the
war, but this is being overcome with
| some aid on the part of the State
| authorities.
Prices demanded for eggs in the
last few years have caused more
chicken coops to be erected in Dauphin
| and Cumberland counties than the
! average man realizes. It does not take
much to grow chickens. Judging from
| some of the fiocks now living the con-
| tented life in Harrisburg back yards.
| the average hen does not even need
room. The henhouse has replaced the
doghousc and Biddy is almost as much
of favorite as Tom or Maria. More
people are interested in chickens than
ever and folks who talked politics and
real estate in cars are now apt to be
| buiNAii6 dpOul INlOue lSldnu f1euS OF
Black Minorcas. Yards of rhapsodies
have been written about the hen and
her traits. her virtues and her values,
but 1t is safe bet that she occupies
a goodly share of the around the
house" thoughts of the average Har-
risburger, especially he who dwells in
a home with yard about it. It's fine
to go and gather half a dozen eggs
| from the henhouse when eggs are
| bringing down 40 cents at the grocer's.
This all brings UP the fact that Har-
risburg, the center of a web of rail
ways and right in one of the richest
agricultural regions on this globe, does
not have a cold storage warehouse
where its fruits, its vegetables and
other foods may be stored. 1t has
facilities for its grain and they are
being enlarged, but it does seem funny
that the choicest apples of the eastern
states, the fine vegetables, the various
other things raised at our doors, are
shipped through this city to some
other place and stored. We not only
lose what profit there may be in that
| business, but we often buy them and
pay profits to other people.