54 



BULLETIN 412 



The prices of canned tomatoes per dozen by months for the years 1919 

 and 1920 are given in table 55: 



TABLE 55. PRICES OF CANNED TOMATOES PER DOZEN, BY MONTHS, IN 1919 AND 



1920" 



^Prices are for No. 3 Standard, f. q. b. Baltimore, as given in the Almanac of the Canning Industry 

 (published by the Canning Trade, Baltimore) for 1920 and for 1921, page 61. 



The 1920 crop of tomatoes was large all over the United States. As 

 a result a considerable part of the crop in certain sections was not har- 

 : vested. Farmers' estimates of the tons per acre of unharvested tomatoes 

 on the farms studied, were: Orleans, 3.49 tons; Niagara, 1.18 tons; Chau- 

 tauqua, 2.64 tons. In Niagara County the leading buyer accepted toma- 

 toes up to October 15, the last date at which, according to the contract, 

 deliveries were to be accepted. On farms growing for this company, the 

 estimate of unharvested tomatoes per acre was approximately i ton. 

 Even if no attempt had been made to restrict deliveries, some tomatoes 

 would have gone to waste, principally on account of the conflict with the 

 fruit harvest. 



Companies may cut down deliveries by being extremely particular 

 as to the quality, by restricting deliveries to a certain number of baskets 

 per day, by accepting tomatoes only on certain days each week, by holding 

 back crates, or by shutting down the plant before the tomatoes are all 

 harvested. When the tomatoes cannot be picked as they ripen, they will 

 soften so that they become too poor in quality to be accepted. Some of 

 the companies had contracts limiting the quantity of tomatoes they would 

 accept to 20 baskets, or about 600 pounds per acre, per day. When 

 the crop was as good as in 1920, this quantity allowed for acceptance of 

 only a part of the ripe tomatoes during the heaviest pickings. 



Toward the end of the season some factories cut the price. This may 

 be done in two ways: by paying a lower price per ton, or by deducting a 

 certain percentage from the weight of the tomatoes as they are drawn 

 in. Where the latter method was followed, the total weight of the toma- 

 toes as delivered to the factory was used in this study in all yield figures. 

 The average price received per ton was therefore lower than the contract 

 price. 



On the farms studied, very few tomatoes were disposed of other than 

 to the factories (table 56). In the Niagara and Orleans areas the sales 



