OCR Text |
Show I NO DANGER OF OVER SUPPLY. Some confirmed pessimists are giving out the idea that the garden movement may be overdone, resulting in unreasonably un-reasonably low prices. Also it would be terrible if the world should come to an end before next fall, and prevent ' the crops from being harvested. . That there can be over supply of substantial foods ' next winter seems beyond the range of possibility. Tho food production of our allies is steadily falling off, owing to the increased number of, men who are serving as sol- diers and the scarcity of fertilizers. They will take an enormous amount of farm products if we can only sell them at decent prices. Furthermore farm help in this country has constantly been growing scarcer. This year had there been no effort to mobilize boys and other helpers, the farmers would have been left almost single handed. The emergency labor supply now being gathered will Hardly do more than supply the gap created by the labor shortage of the past few years. At the best, high school and college boys can't do the work of farm hands that have dug in the soil all their lives. Boys are more or less irresponsible anyway, and even those who are industrious will be handicapped handi-capped by their ignorance of methods of cultivation. Food production is not on a $ound basis if the crops only just barely equal the .total cpnsuihption. It is .too much like the' landlady who was noted for the skimpy, amounts of food she alloted to her hungry boarders. After surveying the empty table one night, every eatable thing having been consumed, she remarked jubilantly, "WellJ guessed to a bean." The boarders remained gloomily silent reflecting that if there had been twice as much food, the table would still have been cleared. So it is with the food crop of this year. Whatever there is will be needed. If there was ever ft, chance to make money on anything, it would seem to be in food production this year for the man who organizes it on a sound basis. |