The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-03-20

| through the process OF so many associa-
| tions, perhaps, have developed an alb
! normal desire 10 manage their own af-
| fairs, even II they have to 90 Il at a
| loss.
at the same time, he was positive that
| no more Virginia Peanut associations
would be organized, or If they werc,
| they could not be successful for the
reason that enough cleaners could not
be gotten into them. They We're tired
Of associations and dis'y,iste with them.
ANOTHER REASON.
| Coming back to the reasons why The
| Virginia Peanut associations failed to
succeed. a. second and potent one may
be mentioned, and that is that II could
not control the buying price OF the nut.
The farmer began to learn a thing or
/ TWO. There are in this State today far
/ lners who are still holding on % crops Of
| Two years ago There is one man in
! Nansemond county who IS almost as
Dig q Speculation as any OF the cleaning
men. He handles about $4,000 worth Of
I soobers year, buying up the crops of
his ne.ghbors and holding them for big
prices. The individual farmers are be-
ginning to learn how 10 hold, too and n
growing tendency in this direction is
| becoming embarrassing to the manufac-
turer,
Another thing to be considered is that
probably less capital is actually engng
ca IN the concerns cleaning peanuts than
| in any other industry of its size in the
world. The largest concerns do bust
ness uLon an actual working capital
CT less S25,OQ0, though considerable bus
mess is done on borrowed capital, this
being the cheaper method It is a curl
Gus business, anyway, and has to he
watched very closely There have been
times in its history in Norfolk when Il
man could sit in his office chair and see
his stock appreciate in value to the cy-
tent Of $4,000, within AN hour six
months later that same man has seen
Il sudden break reduce the price OF his
stock Gn hand TO the same extent and
within the same time.
a VERY SMALL CROP.
! The trouble now is that there are not
enough peanuts, ana those that can be
obtained are very poor.
! The crop in sight is the smallest since
1880, when the price the fancy hand
picked nut went up 10 10 cents and the
farmer was paid cents for his goods.
whether this phen0minal figure will be
reached this Year is unknown but there
! IS strong probability that it will not At
the same time the price on "goobcrs, y
according TO reports. is bound to take
a big jump. II is said by one authority
thnt the Spanish nut will certainly so
UP TO I, and fancy and-picked Vir-
sinia nuts will beat 5.
| will
/ be interesting.
| About the first OF May, 1896, the vir-
| Gnia Peanut Association made n cam
TaSS Of the stock of Virginia peanuts in
| Virginia and North Carolina; the result
was Il showing cf 300 900 bags as report
| cd to the Association May 9Th. This was
about right, except at a few points The
quantity was underestimatcd; such was
notably the case at Norfolk and 325.-
t 600 bags proved nearly correct In
Guided in this, were a good many old
farmers goods, and 10000 to %, 900 bags
Iof fancy hanG-picked nuts held mostly
| en- speculation, large portion Of them
being of 1893 and 1894 crops. This en-
| tire stock was closely absorbed anu
sold into consumption by November 10.
and smaller quantity was carried over
for several years.
| Two weeks ago Il big cleaner made q
careful investigation and reports that
I he can not find 800, 600 bags ana thinks
/ there are not over oJ0 600 bags of Viz
ginia nuts in Virginia and North Car
! olina. A large portion Of these are only
lit for Shelling, and q much larger uuan-
tity must be used for low grades of
cleaned goods
THE NUTS ARE BAD.
| From the stock OF May 9Th, 1896, there
was available about $4,000 bags fancy
hand picked nuts. From the stock now
/ in sight not over $4,000 bags can he
produced, certainly not more than 101-
600 bags, and the season to dispose OF
them Is month and 4 half longer than
when the association made its estimate
as matter Of fact the conservative
cleaners think this estimate even now
a little too large. Last year out Of
every 100000 bags Of farmers goods
! $4,000 bags were available as hand pick
cd, there being only about per cent.
! rot good This year out OF every 100 900
| bags. only about So. 900 are available as
fancy hand-picked goods. the per cent
! off being the remarkable sum Of g.
| With q small crop and most of that
| bad. 1t will be seen Immediately upon
what the prediction Of short supply IS
| based
About June 1st OF l3st year, specula-
| ors' commenced 10 realize on their hold
| ings. and offered their goods 4 to nc
Continued on Sixth Page.)