AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE PRODUCTION OE CANNING CROPS 9 



Both fruits and vegetables are canned in the State, but in this investigation 

 only the vegetable branch of the industry was considered. The leading 

 vegetables canned are peas, corn, tomatoes, and string beans. Beets, 

 cabbage in the form of sauerkraut, and spinach, are among the other 

 vegetables canned. 



Climatic and soil conditions determine the regions in which the raw 

 products can be grown most advantageously. There are other factors 

 also, however, which give relative advantages to various sections of the 

 country. The most important of these is the location with reference to 

 markets. New York State is located in the most densely populated part 

 of the United States. In 1920 the combined population of the New England 

 States and New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 

 was nearly 30 per cent of the total population of the United States. The 

 proportion of the total production of three of the leading kinds of canned 

 goods in these States is given in table i : 



TABLE i. POPULATION AND PROPORTIONAL PRODUCTION OF CANNED GOODS IN 



NEW ENGLAND, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, 



AND PENNSYLVANIA 



* Population according to census of 1010. 

 t Population according to census of 1920. 



t The data in regard to the packs were obtained from the Almanac of the Canning Industry, published 

 by the Canning Trade, Baltimore, Maryland. 



The proportion of these three kinds of canned goods packed in these 

 States was less in the period from 1911 to 1920 than in the earlier period, 

 from 1906 to 1910. Measuring total consumption by total population, 

 these States packed just about enough peas and corn to supply their 

 needs and produced a surplus of canned tomatoes. Canners of corn and 

 peas in the States listed have an advantage in having a near-by market for 

 their product, while the tomato canners must ship a part of their pack to 

 more distant markets. 



The freight rates prevailing during the winter of 1920-21 from various 

 producing centers to various large cities, and the estimated equivalent per 

 ton of fresh tomatoes and green peas, are given in table 2. 



If a canner of peas in Wisconsin and one in New York, respectively, 

 located so as to have the freight rates shown in table 2, were shipping to 

 New York City, the New York canner would have an advantage over the 

 Wisconsin canner in freight rates on the canned goods amounting to about 

 $15 per ton of shelled peas. When shipping to Pittsburg the New York 

 canner would have an advantage amounting to about $6 per ton of shelled 

 peas. 





