THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 495 



sufficiently remunerative price. If the crop can not be sold at a reason- 

 able profit its decline is certain. There is little satisfaction, save to the 

 "gentleman farmer," in knowing that one can produce any given crop, 

 unless he is assured that he can dispose of it at a price that will leave 

 liim a fair profit. 



Vexing as are many of the problems that present themselves to the 

 grower, the greatest of these is the marketing of the output. The 

 extension of almond growing in California rests on a commercial rather 

 than on a horticultural basis. 



The market for California almonds, up to the present time, has been 

 confined to the demand from the United States. The annual consump- 

 tion of almonds in America amounts to about 6,000 tons in the shell and 

 about 5,000 tons of shelled goods ; or expressing the shelled in terms of 

 the unshelled, we find the consumption to be annually about 16,000 tons. 



There are two sources of supply to meet America's demand for 

 almonds ; these are California and southern Europe. The two are in 

 direct competition ; each is seeking the American trade. There is but 

 one market, and it goes without saying that the section that can accept- 

 ably supply that market at the lowest cost to the consumer, will ulti- 

 mately get the trade. 



Heretofore the imported product has enjoyed the bulk of the trade 

 in shelled almonds. There is a market the year round from the baker 

 and the confectioner for the shelled goods. For the nuts in the shell 

 there is a limited market — limited as to the amount consumed and 

 limited as to the time of demand. Almonds in the shell find their 

 readiest market at and immediately before the holidays. Many of the 

 wholesale dealers in almonds in the shell are practically out of the 

 market l)y the first of February. 



Eighty per cent of the imported almonds are shelled, while but five 

 per cent of the California crop are shelled. It will thus be seen that 

 under existing conditions the California almond industry is sadly 

 handicapped. On certain years difficulty has been experienced in dis- 

 posing of small crops at prices that were remunerative to the grower. 

 If this be true with our present output, what may we expect Avithin the 

 next five years when the crop will probably be in the neighborhood of 

 15,000 t'cns? What will happen when California produces an amount 

 equal to the present total consumption of both imported and domestic 

 almonds ? 



Are imports from Europe at a standstill? Not by any means. In 

 1900, 5,140,232 pounds were exported to America. In 1914, 4,753,525 

 pounds of unshelled, and 10,114,901 pounds of shelled goods came here. 

 In 1914 the importations were ten thousand tons greater than they w^ere 

 in 1900. 



Save perhaps in one single variety alone — the Jordan almond, chiefly 

 an imported product — there is not difference enough as to quality 

 between the imported and the home products to demand serious 

 attention. 



The almond stands transportation well and is not perishable. Hav- 

 ing disposed annually of an output several times as large as we produce, 

 the handlers of the imported product have a strong hold on the markets 

 of America. While the demand ecpials or excels the supply, all almonds 

 delivered will l)e absorbed by the trade at satisfactory prices. When 

 3—10079 



