Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1914-04-24
FRUITS ANO NUTS in
THE FOREIGN TRADE IN
THE UNITED STATES, 1918

department OF ommerce says:
Mure than ialf billion dollars
worth of fruits and nuts passed in
to and out Of domestic ports dur
ing the last decade, 365 million be-
ing imports and 220 million cx-
ports. The trade in each direction
has about doubled in the last de-
cade, imports having risen from
2IA to 4S3 million dollars and ev-
ports from 1913 to 332 million dol
lars in the period from 1903 to
1918.
The opening months of 1914
show, according to statistics com-
piled by the Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, Department
of Commerce. increased imports
and diminished exports of fruits
and nuts as compared with January
and February of last year. I'm
ports during the first two months
Of this year aggregated over 6 mil
lion dollars value, or 20 per cent
more than those for like a period
of 1913, while exports amounted
to a million dollars, or about 80
per cent less than a year ago. The
sharp decrease in exports reflects
the shortage in crops during 1913
on the Pacific coast, where, it is
reported, stocks o. all kinds Of
dried fruit on hand at the resent
time are at the lowest point ever
recorded.
Our domestic food supply was
supplemented last year by 81 mil
lion dollars worth Of fruits AMI l6
million dollars worth of nuts from
foreign countries and in addition.
over 4 million dollars worth of
fruits and nuts from Hawaii and
81 million dollars worth from
Porto Rico.
A comparatively small number
of countries supply most of the
fruits and nuts other than those of
domestic production consumed in
the United States. Bananas are
exclusively from American coun-
tries, chiefly the British West
Indies and Central America; last
years imports were valued at Is
million dollars, or almost double
the figures of 1908. Sicily supplied
most of the 6l million dollars
worth of lemons imported. We now
import over 30 million pounds of
dates annually, chiefly from Asiatic
Turkey. Currants come principal
ly from Greece, from which coun-
try we import from 80 to 40 million
pounds annually. Most Of the 20
million pounds of figs imported an
nuslly come from a strip of land
near Smyrna about 80 miles long
and less than mile wide. this be.
ing the worlds chief dried fig dis
trict. We alsn import from | to 2
million cubic feet IF grapes nearly
all from Spain. Spain rivals Asiatic
Turkey as a source for our import
ed raisins and exceeds Greece and
Italy in shipments of olives to the
United States, though Italy still
supplies most of our imp Irtcd
olive oil. The domestic orange has
almost entirely supDlanted the i'm
ported fruit, the few oranges still
being imported coming chiefly from
Jamaica. Mexican oranges are
no longer imported, having been
excluded by p'ant-quarantinc or
der. In Hawaii the pineapple is
becoming an important industry,
that island having sent us last year
a million dollars worth, or forty
times as much as 1908. Cu2u is
also an important source, while
pineapples are received from Porto
Rico In rapidly increasing quaint.
tics.
The so.callrd English walnut Is
almost exclusively the product of
France from which country we i'm.
port from Is to 25 million pounds
annually. Our imported almonds
are mostly from Spain and Italy;
our hlberts from italy and Spain
cream nuts from Brazil; cocoanuts
In the shell from Central America
and the West Indies, cocoanut meat,
or copra. from tho Philippines and
other oriental islands; md peanuts
from Japan, Spain, China, and in