The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-02-20
What About Tomatoes?


/ CT and packer
fruits, l made back in 1889 and
1880, l lost considerably more than
/ possessed in worldly goods. 1t took
me FIVE years hard work to recover
! my losses and get started again. To
accomplish this in 1891, l began
| selling canned goods for other pack
| ers on brokerage basis, and have
| Continued to do so until the present
/ time. My observations during the
/ 80 years experience as a broker has
| covered a large part OF the United
! States. But on the growing of this
vegetable it has been largely confin-
| ed to the Maryland Delaware PENN
sula.
In some sections of the country the
! tomato grower does not need the can
| ner. Throughout the entire south
and southwest where large acreage
is grown annually there is not sin
| gle tomato canning factory of any
hote. In the past few years, some
canning experiments have been made
i'll Texas and Arkansas but have
made no appreciabIe Roadway. In
| fact, the tomato industry south of the
| latitude OF Norfolk, Virginia, from
| the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast de-
ponds entirely on the green market
The state Of California was also in
this list until about five years ago,
since which time the canning of to-
matOes has developed so rapidly that
California stands second in the
United States in the number OF cases
Of canned tomatoes produced an
nuaIly. Maryland alone ranking
| higher. The states in which the ma
| jOr portion of the tomatoes grown
( for canning and manufacturing pur-
poses, are produced, are as follows:
Maryland, California, Indiana, Miss
Ouri, Delaware, New Jersey, New
! York, Utah, Illinois, Kentucky. Ohio,
| Pennsylvania, Tennessee Virginia
and West Virginia. The volume of
the pack in the several stables is in
the order mentioned. \ few plants
| have also been established in Michi-
| San. Wisconsin,, Iowa, Nebraska, Col
CrGdO and Oregon so that you can
| Eearily see the tomato is being sue
| cCSSGully grown for mark t and can
ming purposes in more than three
fUurthS of the states in the union. It's
| importance can even better be appre-
ciated when l tell you that for money
value it ranks thin 1 in the vegetable
| kingdom, white and sweet potatoes
being the only two vegetable crops in
the United States that surpasS the
the once despised Love Apple" now
VariOusly called ''TOmat," Tomato
each term measuring the esteem in
which it is held.
The tomato is a crop that can be
produced under wide variety of
Conditions, but to make it profitable
for canning or manufacturing pur-
! poses where good quality and large
quantity are the requirements, the
territory is more restricted than the
above outline would indicate. A
temperate climate and Iong grow
ing season combined are the first es-
sertial requisites. The Middle At
| lantic States have this in the highest
degree and the coast section of cen
trail California would come next
Farther south, the temperature IS
too high in the ripening period, cans
| ing q very poor quality, watery in
sipid, too much seed, pulp and not
! enough solid meat, while farther
north the growing season is too
short to mature full crop though
the quality is better than in the
| south. Therefore in neither the ex-
| IRENE north or south would it be
possible to produce tomatoes for
general manufacturing purposes on a
profitable basis.
Tomatoes are grown extensivel'
! in tho f9 cn11th lIrc CT 70
| but for the green market only. They
are usually picked green and ripen-
ed under partial refrigeration, and l
venture the assertion that not one
here has ever eaten a good, really
| GOOD tomato grown and marketed
under these conditions, yet the
northern markets afford a price for
| this product to justify their extern
sive cultivation. In California, Utah
Colorado and some sections If
Florida, the crop is grown under il
rigatiOn and as a rule the average
crop is twice that of ours.
So much for the general situation.
| This short survey of conditions out
| side our own domain, the Maryland
| Delaware Peninsula, is no doubt a
| proper introduction to the question,
What About Tomatoes" in this par
ticular territory.
Our principal competitors in cam
! ed tomatoes are the states of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois and Missouri Which
occupy the same latitude in positions
as the Maryland Delaware PENN
| sula, and extend the same lines west
ward, it includes Colorado, Utah and
| the central coast section of California
SO that.I would say 900 Of all can
ned tomatoes produced in the United
| States lie between the latitude Of
Cape Charles and Wilmington. The
! Stat s of Ohio, southern Michigan,
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Ten
! nesee furnish a supply almost su1fci-
| ent for the needs of the central west
| from Pittsburg to st. Louis, Omaha
| Kansas CITY, Chicago and the minor
| distributing points included in that
| territory. Farther west, Utah and
| California have better freight rates
than we have and thus get the bust
| ness. Just here. l might call your
attention to the fact that only few
years ago his Peninsula supplied
| practically all this territory just
mentioned, including Arkansas and
| Texas. Now We get an occasional
or.ler only, for the prevailing freight
rates make it prohibitive.
/ 1 was in Sioux City, Iowa, few
weeks ago in conservation with one
] Of our jobber customers who showed
me the situation by very simple il
| lustration. He said to me you want
$40 per dozen for No. tomatoes.
The freight to Sioux City is about AZ
cents per dozen, carriage i'll and out
| cents per dozen freight TO a cos
toner so miles out, 1 5 cents per
| dozen; his carriage cents per DOZEN,
maFirg a total without jobbars or
reta 1ers profit 1920 per dozen Add
the jobber's profit of Is $3.50 cents,
and the retailers profit of 25@-55
| cents would make a total Of So 05 or
rs y cents per can to the consumer.
| He tnen said the farmers can only
get II cents per bushel fer their
corn. In other words, it takes Il
| hucb ole o0O5 corn tO b11I- ora ooD Df