Smyrna times., 1921-01-05
BUSINESS YEAR ON PENINSULA
COndi tiOn About the Same as in Other
Parts of the Country


According to R. G. Dun & Co., bu 81
ness conditions on the Delmarvia PEN
insula, comprising the State of De;a-
ware, nine counties on the Easte -
shore of Maryland, and two counties
on the Eastern Shore fo Virginia, AZ.
about en- par with conditions as r.
ported in other sections of the coun-
try. The first six months of the year
just closing was featured by unusually
high prices for practically all corn
modities, but since about July pri, $
have been on the decline until at the
present time number of articles,
particularly all food, are being sold at
quite loss to the producer, and while
wholesale and retail business is dull
at the present time large number of
merchants and manufacturers reppEt
that the. gross sales for 1920 are about
equal the past previous years, al
though the last few months have been
decidedly below the average.
The two Virginia counties and the
lower end of the Eastern Shore of
Maryland produce very large quan+i-
ties of white potatoes, and during th4
past year a number of farmers the
unheard-of price of S12 and S13 per
barrel for their crop, and price of
same remained good until about Ju e
Is. The acreage of white potatoes IN
this section was much larger than US
ual, the yield alb. normal. The acre
/ age of sweet potatoes was lighter thln
previous years and the yield of this
crop about normal One of the larC-
est shippers in this section repo cts
.leir gross sales for the year at $19,-
100000 as compared with $13,000,OU0
for 1919, also state as follows: "For
the past two or three months practi-
cally all of our produce has been ma :
keted at loss to the producer. Con-
ditions generally at this time are very
unsatisfactory and the outlook for an
other year is anything but encourag-
ing. With fertilizer about the same
as a year ago our growers are hesi-
tating to plant anything near the ac-
reage for 1921 that was planted dur
ing 1920.
Some Paying Crops to the Farmers
Strawberries and early white pota'
toes appear to have paid well in 10
er Delaware and on the Eastern Sho Z,
of Maryland, but nearly all othel
, crops with the exception of peaches
and apples were a failure in regard t'
financial returns. Especially is thi
? true of cucumbers, cantaloupes, wa
2 termelons and tomatoes. 1t is report
| ed that hundreds of acres OF theS'
| vegetables were allowed to decay
the field or were ploughed under an
it is reported that hundreds of tho1
e sands of baskets of tomatoes were sol
e at ten, twelve and fifteen cents bas
y ket delivered at the railroad stati II
! and it is said that corn and wheat al
- selling at less than the cost of produC
/ ton at the present time. 1t is report
e ed there is practically no market fc
r white potatoes and the price is ver
low and the same can be said concerI
ing sweet potatoes.
The past season has been .disal
trous one for a number of Gamers,
large number of whom still have
part, if not all, of their 1919 pack Q
hand and number of canneries we
not operating this season. 1t is
. ported that generally speaking Il
Il farmers purchasing power has greJ
ly deprecated and since this peninsE
n Is primarily an agricultural section
lines Of industry are thereby affecte