544 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Peanuts pass throufjh a maiuifactiirinoj process before reaching the 

 consumer and do not travel throu<^h the same channels of distribu- 

 tion as fruits and ve«>;etables. These considerations brou<5ht up new 

 problems to be solved before this service could be put on a practical 

 basis. Investifj^ations of marketing methods and conditions were 

 made in the important producino; States of Texas, Alabama, Florida, 

 Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. Early in November, 1919, 

 a representative of the bureau was stationed at Suffolk, Va., who 

 wired to Washington regularly the prices which were paid the grow- 

 ers for farmer's grade peanuts and the prices received f. o. b. ship- 

 ping i^oint for the manufactured product. Contacts were established 

 with reliable representatives of the industry in important centers of 

 the Southeast and Southwest to furnish similar data by telegraph. 

 Arrangements were made with the agents of the different railroads 

 and boat lines serving the important Virginia-North Carolina section 

 to report M^eekly by mail the shipments in pounds of. shelled and 

 unshelled peanuts. Repi'esentatives of the market news service on 

 fruits and vegetables in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 

 Chicago, and St. Louis reported the car-lot arrivals and wholesale 

 prices of peanuts in those markets. Until the discontinuance of the 

 offices at Portland and San Francisco reports of f. o. b. market con- 

 ditions on Asiatic importations at those ports also were received. 

 The food products inspector at San Francisco continues to report the 

 quantities of oriental peanuts and peanut oil received at that port, 

 and through a cooperative arrangement with the Bureau of Chem- 

 istrj^ at Seattle a record of importations for the Seattle customs dis- 

 trict is obtained. 



Every effort is made to obtain all possible information concerning 

 the peanut situation in the Orient, because this factor vitally in- 

 fluences the domestic market. During the year more than 132,000,000 

 pounds of peanuts, besides a large quantity of peanut oil, were im- 

 ported, largely from China and Japan. This amount is nearly double 

 that imported in any previous year and has caused considerable ap- 

 prehension and uncertainty as to the future of the peanut industry 

 in this country. At the request of this Bureau, the State Department 

 sent to the important peanut-growing consular districts in China, 

 Japan, India, and Africa, instructions for a detailed review of the 

 industry in those districts. Information obtained from this source 

 has been distributed to peanut growers and the trade. 



Approximately 70,000 reports on peanuts were issued during the 

 fiscal year 1920, semiweekly, to a mailing list consisting of about 

 1,300 names. 



MARKET INSPECTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 



Mr. C. T. More directed the market inspection of fruits and vege- 

 tables until his resignation in the fall of 1919, when this project was 

 placed in the fruit and vegetable division. In this division, Mr. 

 H. E. Kramer supervised the work until his assignment to other 

 duties, when he was succeeded by Mr. F. G. Robb. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year 1920, the Food Products In- 

 spection Service was operating through 29 central offices, which 

 number was reduced to 23 by June 30, 1920, as shown in the table 

 below. In addition to these central offices at which inspectors were 



