Imperial Valley press., 1923-05-30

! the cities lost an enormous amount
1s money through the lettuce deal
! One of the prime factors in thD loss
was the lack of any accurate in
formation as to the acreage actual
] ly in lettuce. In the early part
of the season. during September,
| there seemed to be thousands and
. thousands Of acres being planted.
I just at that time a local authority
burst into print, stating that there
was $4,000 acres of lettuce being
planted. Almost over night every
/ person that could, stopped planting.
Some put in peas, which were kill
ed by the frost, some planted squash,
or oHons or cantaloupes later on,
while various agencies were inves'
tigating, and by November ii be-
came dsfinitely known that the ac-
rege was only 5000. A tremendous
rush Of planting then started, and
when this large acreage matured in
March, the result was n crash in
prices, with tremendous losses TO
the dealer. If planting had gone on
/ syste eRticaliy in September and
OctoST and the fore part of Novem
Der, the enormous tonnage would
not have been jammed onto the mar.
ket aSt once, with more than even
supply the bottom would not have
dropped out SO suddenly, if at all.
100 Pct. Discrepancy
In order to supply the great de-
Aands for information as to the ac-
reage in various crops, 4 local or
ganization printed a statement Civ.
ing the acreage, the value, the mum.
Der of carloads, ect., of various
crops and livestock of Imperial Val
ley. This report states that there
nsse now nearly $1,000 sheep in the
ssanty. The California Crop Re-
porting Service of the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture Bureau of Agri-
cultural Economics, Crops and Live
scoek Estimates in cooperation with
the Agricultural Statistical Service
of the State Department Of Agri-
culture reports that in 1928 there
are onE 10000 sheep in Imperial
Valley. 4 discrepancy of over 100
per cent!
The local Ss2ort states further
that there wefDEdD acres of grape
fruit in 1922 and SIS in 1922-23
/ The go~ernnplt and state author
itfes state kas in 1922 there were
+, $50 acres bearing and $50 acres
non bearing trees here, not count
| ing 4iose planted in 1922. Again
discrepancy Of over 100 per cent!
There is no criticism offered of the
excellent work done by the local
organization, only praise can be ex-
| pressed for tS9 splendid effort that
! was made.
But, Ehen a local statistieian diff
fers by over 100 per cent from the
/ report CT Government crop reporters,
/ is il not time that some effort be
made to maAe an accurate survey
of agrioulturdSnd livestock in this
( great ~alley'
! Farmers, merchants, farmers pro-
! ducing and marketing associations,
chamber Of commerce, corporations
! engaged 81 distributing products
raised in Imperial Valley, railroad
companies, ice manufacturers and
many others are constantly seeking
for the information which this sur
vey would furnish.
Farmers, marketing associations,
can operate only with great diff
| Guilty in the absence of accurate
knowledge of the present and pros
/ pectlve acreage OF the specific
crops or products they have been
! formed to handle.
I Such organizations would find in
valuable an accurate, reliable report
from which they could sSure the
names of farmers prodryng certain
( commodities, the amount of these
/ various commodities the farmers
! will have, and the time they will be
ready $r marketing. Private firms
ox corporations now engaged in
marketing and distributing agricul
tural products raised in Imperial
Valley agree that this information
would be PRICELESS to them.
/ Railroad aM transportation com
/ panies have to have on hand suf-
ficient sirs TO handle the tremen-
dous rush that occurs during cant.
aloupe and lettuce seasons every
year. Marvellous feats of railroad
ing have been performed in order
to move 2l4,l70 crates of cant
aloupes in single day. But in
order 10 do this the campaign must
be Planned a considerable time in
! advance.
| Companies supplying the ice
necessary to the successful keeping
during transportation of the perish
| able products raised here, have 10
produce the ice months in advance,
hence find a survey necessary. I'm.
agine the disaster to the Valley
should the transportation or ice com.
( panies fall short few hundred cars
or few hundred tons Of ice be
/ cause they didn't know how much
would be required!
! Secretaries of Chambers of Com
naerce state that an average Of five
! persons call every day and as many
write letters asking for the number
! of acres in various crops or the
! L