450 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



supply was considerably less than necessary for the demand. From 

 the middle of last week to the middle of this week prices jumped 

 several times a day, and by the time the market opened this week 

 New York operators were quoting cabbage as high as $36 a ton; 

 reports were heard of one or two dealers who were even asking $40. 



For a fortnight prior to the middle of this week potato prices have 

 been steadily declining and as late as Tuesday of this week sales were 

 made on the Chicago market at 80 @ 88 cents. Light receipts all 

 this week began to take effect about Wednesday, and the market took 

 on a firmer aspect. This is due largely to the shortage in insulated 

 cars, only a few stations reporting that they had sufficient equipment 

 to take care of requirements. Also there was a disposition on the 

 part of farmers to haul less potatoes, owing to the fact that dealers 

 had been dropping their prices at country points in accordance with 

 the decline in the market. The conditions of roads in the North was 

 bad, making it difficult for farmers to haul. Receipts continued light 

 this week, and local operators expressed the belief that the market 

 would make a sharp advance within the next week or two. 



140. THE PRESENT DIFFICULTY OF THE SPECIALTY 

 FARMER 1 



BY G. HAROLD POWELL 



There are approximately two hundred thousand acres of citrus 

 fruits in California, representing an investment of $200,000,000. 

 Eighty- three per cent of the total acreage in 1913 were oranges, and 

 17 per cent were lemons. Two-thirds of the groves were of bearing 

 age in 1913; 85 per cent of these were oranges and 15 per cent were 

 lemons. There are now 32,556 acres of lemons in California, 14,500 

 of which are of non-bearing age. When the non-bearing lemon groves 

 come into bearing, the lemon production of the state, even with a 

 moderate yield, will exceed the present total lemon consumption of 

 the United States and Canada. 



There has been a steady increase in the acreage devoted to citrus 

 culture in California since the introduction of the Washington navel 

 orange in 1873. In the ten years from 1903 to 1913, the citrus area 



1 Adapted from an address delivered before the Eleventh Annual Meeting of 

 the Western Fruit Jobbers' Association, Los Angeles, February 16, 1915, printed 

 in the Western Fruit Jobber, April, 1915. 



