The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-07-06
PEANUT IMPORTANT
NOW AS MONEY CROP:
-,n FOR SEASON is ESTIMA-
Tn AT MORE THAN 33 MIL
LION BUSHELS.

LION BUSHELS.
ro,,, crops have experienced such
rev n;d Growth in acreage and pro-
aa, lion as has the peanut during re-
uont years. Unknown commercially
CEN gafOre 1870, by 1899 the yield in
p @a limited States had risen to H.
co n1 bushels from 516,654 acres,
in 1918 the product of 1861
ann ann acres reached 45,886,O00 bush
CO. decided slump in both produc-
4;on and acreage occurred the past
S vLol however, with only 1,215,-
nm mn acres planted, resulting in an
wy ostiroa ted Weld of 33,263,000 bush
els Yet the value of peanuts was
co much greater in 1919 than In the
preceding year that according to the
Pbrraan of crop estimates the total
farn value on December 1, 1919,
uas s79,839,OO0 or only about $780,
00O less than the total value IN
1918.
Market Fairly Steady.
The peanut market has not fluc-
+,ated so much this season as in the
rast wears. Thus far there have
been neither sudden drops nor alb
rInt advances. Few important sales
Of farmers grades have been report
Cd at less than 71a cents per pound
and few lots of the best grade have
sold above 10A cents.
The market on the cleaned stock
has been gradually growing weaker
since the first of the year, owing to
The severe winter months and to the
heavy importation of oriental nuts.
This situation has in turn exerted a
bearish influence on the farmers
market with the result that it grad
uallv weakened from the middle to
the end of February, when range
of 81 to 91a cents per pound was
reached. These prices prevailed un-
til the last of March, at which time
the market was apparently consid-
erablv stronger, although the trade
has not been reflected to any, mark
ed extent in the price being paid
for farmers stock.
Unshelled Stock Draggy.
The market on nuts in the she'll
has been draggy, although the sea-
son presumably on account of the
inability of street vendors in the
north to operate their stands as
usual this season because of the Sc
we're weather. Moreover, the quail
itv of peanuts which the street ven
dor now serves for a nickel has de-
creased owing to increased prices OF
peanuts, and consequently the nor
NAL volume of peanuts in the shell
has not passed into consumption.
The price of Jumbos of the new
crop opened at Is to 16 cents per
pound, but declined to a 1871 to IA
cent level by the last of March.
Fancys have followed the same gen.
eral trend, opening at II to Is cents
and declining to a range of 1OR
to II cents. Extras opened at 101s
to II cents and have since declined
to az to II cents per pound. 1t
is interesting to note that the Eek
ira" grade has been somewhat
scarce this year because of the good
crop and because most of the clean
ers have preferred to shell the por-
ton of their stock which would have
made extras.
The demand for shelled nuts
seems to have been considerably
better than for goods in the shell,
reaching range of 151s to 16h
toward the end of March. No. l
Virginias opened at Is to 16, cents,
but by the end of March had reach
ed a level of IA to 14R cents. A
noticeable feature of the season has
been the shortage of No. 2 shelled
stock, this too being a consequence
of the excellent quality of the crop
this year. This grade held reason
ably firm throughout the winter, No.
2 Virginias ranging from 11A ID
13 cents per pound.
Spanish Relatively High.
Notwithstanding the fact that few
of the Spanish nuts which usually
enter into the manufacture of pea
nut oil have been crushed because
of the extremely high prices, still
the Spanish market has held firm
throughout the season. The farm
ers' market has ranged from $3.50
to $3.50 per bushel of 80 pounds.
No. l shelled Spanish stock sold for
around Is cents f. o. b. Virginia
shipping points early in November
and has not since fluctuated to any
considerable extent. The price on
No. l Spanish has not fallen below
l6a cents at any time, and the
highest price seems to have been 10
cents. No. 2 grade shelled Spanish
has been scarce throughout the sea-
son, with prices ranging from 144
to 16R cents per pound. Several
tunes the price of No. 2 Spanish
shelled has been higher than the
price for extra large Virginia she'll
ed, very unusual condition.