San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-05
VALLEY MEN
(. HAVELEARNED
THEIR LESSON
Will Plant Fall and Winter
Truck on Large
Scale.
EXPECT GOOD DEMAND
Mercedes Led in Spring
Shipments of Vege-
tables.
EXPECT GOOD DEMAND

truck growing on an extensive scale
will again be undertaken in the Rio
0rande Valley this fall and win
ter, il the opinion of many growers,
who point to the fact that the spring
truck crop proved one of the most
profitable the valley has ever pro-
duced, and that there is every indi-
cation that the demand for winter
vegetables will be heavy this year.
Truck growers throughout the val
ley are now preparing their seed beds.
and seed men state that the demand
for tomato and cabbage seed is heavy.
The irrigation districts also announce
that they are expecting an unprece-
dented demand for water from the irri-
CATION canals during the fall and win
ter months.
Mercedes Led in Shipments.
According TO a report issued August
!, by the Rio Grande Valley Cham
Der Of Commerce, a total of 3113 cars
Of produce were shipped out Of the
valley for the season, November, 1922.
10 May, 1928, inclusive. While this
total was not as great as had been at
t8luCu cNdcOhcf llN PiiNee
received on practically all products
more than compensated for the differ
ence in quantity, the season proving
the most profitable the truck grow
ers had ever experienced.
Mercedes led the valley in the num-
Der of carloads shipped, growers in
that district shipping a total of 775
cars, 772 going by freight and three
BY express. San Benito was a close
second with a total of GIL cars. and
Brownsville was third with 1873. West
laco, 1.-THE baby town of the valley"
got fourth place with total Of 30S,
and Harlingen was fifth with 213.
Shipments from other towns were
Donna, 127, Mission. 121; Pharr, 93;
McAllen, 9S; Sam Fordyce. II; Bar
reda, 10; Combs, %; Edinburg. 3;
La Feria, 80; Lyford, II; Llnno
Grande, 3; Olmito. 81; Raymondville,
$50; San Juan, IS; Sharyland, 81
Stuart Place, s; Sebastian. s.
Gives Impetus to Industry.
Truck growing in the Lower Rio
rande Valley had reached a low ebb
planting time last fall, and many
lowers were manifestly skeptical,
heir skepticism being manifested in
ssA-reduced acreage. The acreage de-
voted to cabbage was cut 10 approxi-
mately % per cent of what 1t had
been the previous year, some OF the
growers stating that they were plant
ing II merely from "force Of habit.
The @dope" on the cotton situation
over the United States was obviously
against the growers of the Rio Grande
Valley. From Wisconsin and Illinois
came reports Of big acreages OF cab
bage, enormous yields, and warehouses
filled almost to bursting. The Lower
Rio Grande cabbage growers viewed
the Northern reports with a dubious
eye, and promptly came TO the con-
clusiop that the safest course would
be to reduce the cabbage acreage.
However, along in December re-
ports began to filter through the trade
channels that the cold storage con-
Germs were having serious trouble with
the Northern cabbage, that it was not
keeping properly, and by the middle
of February TIE commission men be-
gan to wire the valley growers that
the cabbage supply was rotting in stor-
age and that the valley would be
called upon TO furnish the necessary
companion vegetable for the corned
beef dinners of the "effete East"
Cabbage prices in the valley began to
jump, and by the middle of March the
valley growers were getting fancy
prices for the vegetable-prices which
were never exceeded except in 1916
and 1917, when cabbage went TO over
500 per ton on the valley mar
ket.
Products Bring Good Prices.
The cabbage market was duplicated
in practically all other vegetables, and
the valley growers received prices
which were equal to or better, than
those received during the war. The
demand for tomatoes, beans and pep
pers was strong, and the prices high
and new potatoes, which constituted
the principal shipments from Browns
vile, brought from 81 to $40 per
bushel, f. 0. b. Brownsville.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
poured into the valley in return for
these vegetable shipments, and the val
ley farmers who had failed TO devote
any part of their acreage to vegetable
crops noted the advent of these big
profits with an envious eye.
Regardless of what the dope" may
be on the future trend Of the winter
vegetable market, the valley farmers
will not be deferred this fall from
planting O record-breaking acreage, ac-
cording to reports received in Browns
vile from all parts of the valley.
The farmers realize that truck
growing is a gamble, but most of them
are going to put some stakes in the
game, not enough to inconvenience
them seriously if they should lose, but
enough to give them a chance at the
big profits in the event the vegetable
market and prices are maintained as