Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 20, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 27, 1923 Page: 9 of 12
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MERCEDES TRIBUNE
PAGE NINE
'
The Tribune's Monthly Review of Farming Conditions
and
Agricultural
Notes
\
Growers Maintain Cash Buyers En-
deavoring* to Hold Price Down.—
Alamo GrowersConsign to
Chicago
Valley Growers View Cotton
Prospects With Optimistic Eye
Although the first Valley broom-
corn sold for $350 per ton, when the
bulk of the crop started to come on
the market, conditions were decided-
ly unsettled. Growers in the west-
ern end of Hidalgo Ounty, where the
bulk of the acreage is found, have
maintained that the cash buyers are
attempting to hold down the price
until the large northern acreage
comes on the market. On the other
hand, the cash buyers maintain that
they are ready to pa’7 all that tin.
crop is worth, and have Deen endeav-
oring to dissuade the growers from
consigning their crop, claiming that
consigned broomcorn will drive the
market price still lower.
Alamo growers have combined and
are consigning their crop to the
Chicago market, sending out two car
loads last week. The representa-
tives of the consignors accompanied
the cars to Chicago and will rep-
resent the growers interested in sell-
ing the consignment. The general
feeling sems to be that a settled
price will not have been determined
in the Valley until the acreage plant-
ed by representatives of the large
warehouse concerns has been mar-
keted. This acreage is- fairly large.
Weather during the month has
been ideal for the growing of broom-
corn. Although some uneasiness
was caused by the local showers
during the middle of ithe month, a
survey of the Valley shows that
little or no damage was done. The
crop is in the best of condition, and
the harvesting has proceeded rapidly
without interference from rain as was
feared.
Several broomcorn threshing and
drying sheds have been erected for
commercial purposes in the western
end / of* Hidalgo County, chiefly at
McAllen and Mission*
The present acreage of broomcorn
in the Valley, estimated at about
20,000 acres in Hidalsro Onnn'tv pi one.
is the largest planted since the war,
when record prices were paid for
the brush which ranged from $400
to as high as $650 per ton. Follow-
ing. the war, prices took a severe
slump, falling as low as $50 per ton,
and the crop was dropped by the
Valley. Preliminary estimates late
last year and early this year dis-
closed an apparent shortage in broom-
corn with prospects of a good price
for the early brush. Acting on this
assumption a large acreage was put
out in the Valley, some of which was
contracted early in the season at $200
to $250 per ton. Buyers have esti-
mated ithe value of the Hidalgo Coun-
ty prospective crop at over $2,000,000
if the price holds near the $250 mark.
The experiment of the Alamo farm-
ers in consigning their crop is being
watched with great interest by
other growers in all sections of the
Valley, as advices from Oklahoma
early in the month stated that the
price there ranged from $300 to $400
per ton delivered.
-o-
A new. idea in club insignia has
■been developed by the girl in Brown
County, Texas, to enable other club!
members, their /friends, and neigh-
bors to identify’ them with H clubs.
As they have chosen cannas for their
club flower, each girl has given one
to plant at*1 the right-hand side of
her front door. If a gii’l had more
than one canna, they were planted
on each side of the door. Club girls
all over the country can locate each
other easily by the cannas, and an
indirect benefit of this simple but
distinctive mark hasV been that all
the girls take a great deal more pride
in their homes and yards.
-o---
The valley may not be united as
to the best method of obtaining flood
control; there may be differences of
opinion regarding politics and re-
ligion, but on one thing there is un-
animity of opinion, and that is that
there is a bumper cotton crop in sight
for. Hidalgo and Cameron counties.
The feeling of optimism which prevails
concerning the cotton crop is not
confined to any one community, it is
univercal. Ginners, buyers and grow-
ers who have travelled from Browns-
ville to Mission, and who have
scoured the dry lands of Hidalgo and
Cameron counties, report that; the
crop is universally good.
In Cameron County growers are re-
porting that a yield of a bale to the
acre will not be uncommon, while
many state an even larger yield may
measures are being used by the
growers to kill out tills pest, and
success is being attained by those
grov/ers who are poisoning. Some re-
ports of increased weevil infestation
are coming in from growers in all
sections, although the weevil infes-
tation seems to be spatted. Those
growers who are dusting with cal-
cium arsenate report good results
obtained.
The dry land cotton of both coun-
ties is expected to prove an important
factor in the increase of cotton ton-
nage this \ year. County Agent Kirk-
patrick of Hidalgo County estimates
that there are between 30,000 and
40,000 acres of dry lands in cotton
this year. La Reforma district-north
west of Mission and the lands north
LARGE PRESERVE
BUSINESS GROWS
GUT OF CLUB WORK
CANTALOUPES LATE
BUT SOLO WELL
California Concerns Make Plans for
Increased Acreage Next Year.—
Expect Deal to Develop
Favorably
When home demostration work
was first started in Charleston, S. C., _
ten years ago, Mrs. Julius Townsend, i ^ue unfav0rable weather
of Martins Point, became keenly in- con^jons which prevailed in the
terested in preserving and pickling)
and made rapid progress under ex-
tension direction. For the first two
> ears she canned locally abundant
fruits and vegetables for home use
only. In her third year of club work
she began to market in a small way
such products as Dixie Relish, pin-
eaple pears, grapefruit preserves,
mixed pickles, peach preserves and
sweet pickles, ginger pears, cucum-
ber rinds, plum preserves, blackberry
jam, artichoke pickle and relish,
of the Edinburg Irrigation system
be expected from many fields. Hi- present the largest increase in acre-1 canned schrimp, grape jelly, green
dalgo growers are talking in the age. Encouraged by prospects for j tomato pickle, pumpkin ships, fig
same vein, and all indications point a good price for the staplb and by preserves, and palmetto pickle. Five
to a probable doubling of the Yal- the favorable weather ’ during the, years ago her annual output was not
ley crop over last year’s output.
Ginners have been making their
preparations to handle the bmper
crop, ahd practically all of the old
gins in the Valley have been tuned
.up during the past month and all
announce that they are ready for the
first bale of, the season. In addition,
new gins have been erected in all
sections. At least ten new gins have
been constructed, of which three are
in the farming communities north of
Mercedes and Weslaco. Other new
gins have been erected at Harlingen,
La Feria, San Benito, Barreda,
Brownsville, Alamo, Weslaco, Ray-
mondville and on the Turner Tract.
Showers during the middle of the
month caused considerable anxiety
in all sections of the Valley. Little
or no bad effects haye been noted on
the Mercedes and Weslaco tracts,
but reports from the western end of
Hidalgo County and from Cameron
County tell of damage to some ex-
tent by the Leaf Worm. Control
winter when considerable rain fell,
much brush land has been cleared
this year in the dry sections and
planted to cotton. The showers which
fell during the month of June have
also proven a bonanza .to the dry-
land farmers.
Although the price of cotton broke
badly downward following the re-
lease of the government report ^bn
condition as of May 25, showing- the
over a thousand containers a year.
About this time a new demonstra-
tion agent came to the county and as
Valley during the early spring and
late winter, the cantaloupe deal was
disappointing to Valley growers, the
crop being held back to such an ex-
tent that the bulk of the Valley
shipments came on the market right
when the Imperial Valley of Califor-
nia was reaching its first peak.
Despite this fact, however, Upper
Valley points, notably Pharr and
Mission, came through with an en-
couraging number of cars, and their
growers report good profits, although
perhaps not up to the standard of
former years. Carload shipments
practically ceased about the middle
of the month, but express shipments
have continued in small lots up to
the end of the month.
MEXICAN LABORERS
LEAVING TEXAS FOR
NORTH AND EAST
sisted Mrs. ownsend in enlarging herj The California Vegetable Union, af-
market. In 1920 she added a small filiated with the Texas Pioduceis
canning kitchen to her home and be-
gan to employ her niece and sister to
help. She increased her output to
4,000 containers. A field agent of
the United States • Department of Ag-
riculture visited Mrs. Townsend in
condition percentage at 71%, higher, 1021 and found that she had built a
than had been expected by the trade, | factory, and put up oveiv 12,000 con-
the price seems to be slowly working | tainers, necessitating the employ-
upward, with occasional breaks in ment of six to ten of her neighbors
the market. Unofficial mid-June con-; daily. In 1922 her output was even
dition figures have been bullish in1 greater, but she invested the entire
tendency with condition percentages proceeds in another factory twice the
ranging, from 68% to 70%. Consid- Si2e of the first, with proper com-
erable interest awaits the govern- mercial equipment. The establish-
ment report of June 25, when an ment is a great benefit to the com-
WIRING COTTON GINS
REDUCES FIRE LOSS
acreage estimate will also be made
public.
Growers and .-buyers in the Valley-
are optimistic regarding the price
for the Valley crop. The universal
opinion is that the price will open
at not lower than 25 ecnts. Buyers
who arrived in the county last week
are reported to be endeavoring to
munity, as it furnishes employment
to many who otherwise have only a
few sources of income.
-o--
During the month of April the
number of foreign birds imported in-
to the United States under permit
from the Biological Survey amounted
to more than 17,500, of which approi-
contract July cotton at that figure. imately 14,000 were canaries.
Thirty-two thousand laborers have
left Texas for Northern and East-
ern states during the past four
months, according to State Labor
Commissioner Joseph H. Myers, who
states that this movement is one of
the largest in the history of Texas.
The majority of the laborers leaving
the state have been Mexicans, he
states, although some negroes have
helped to swell the total.
In quoting Mr. Myers, the Browns-
liave gone into sixteen different
ville Herald states these laborers
states as follows: Pennsylvania, zinc
and steel workers; Montana, beet
fields and farm hands; California,
railroad maintenance, canning fac-
tories; Colorado, beet fields; Illinois,
steel and zinc factories; Kansas, rail-
road workers; Wisconsin, leather and
beet workers; Michigan, beet fields;
Missouri, railroad workers; Oklaho-
ma, steel plants and farms; Louis-
iana, lumber workers; New York,
canning factories. Over 100 workers
were shipped for work in fish can-
ning factories.
Several thousand workmen have
been taken from the state by rail-
roads for maintenance of way work.
Among the roads that have received
shipments are: Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe; Southern Pacific; Rock
Island; Missouri, Kansas and Texas;
St. Louis and San Francisco; Balti-
Union, with headquarters at Mer-
cedes, made their first venture into
the Valley cantaloupe deal this year,
but state that they- realize that this
was an unusual year for the Valley,
and are making plans for an in-
creased deal next year, and already
have a considerable acreage lined
up. California concerns which have
been operating around Mission terri-
tory have announced that, they will more and Ohio.
go into the deal on a larger scale j Numerous causes have encouraged
than heretofore next year, and it j movement of Mexican and negro
seems more-than probable that next; laborers to the northern states, Corn-
year may see the cantaloupe deal on j missioner Myers said. Reliable re-
a firm footing. Both shippers and j ports to the state labor department
growers feel that the experience! show that wage scales in the north-
ern sections are considerably higher
than in the south. Comparison of
wages paid by 22 industries in the
north and south are reported to show
wages in the north as 99 per cent
higher than in the same industries
in the south.
-o-
RODENT CONTROL IN EAST
DIFFERS FR03I WORK IN WEST
gained during the past season will
prove valuable.
FEMALE PURE BRED
STOCK SHOWS RAPID
INGREASE IN REPORT
Investigations by the United States
Department of Agriculture haye
shown that a great many of the fires
in cotton gins, which in some seasons
cause losses in excess of a million
dollars, are caused by static electric-
ity which collects in certain parts of
the machinery as a result of friction.
Ther'e are other causes, such as
matches in the cotton, overheated
bearings, friction between the saws
and cotton stuck in the ribs, and
sparks caused by pieces of metal and
other foreign particles passing thru
but static electricity is an important
cause and one which may be con-
trolled.
If certain parts of the machinery
in the gin are grounded by proper
wiring any electricity will be drained
off and no sparks will be formed.
The Department of Agriculture has
issued a circular, No. 271, in which
the system of wiring is explained
and shown in1 diagram.
The effectiveness of a proper
grounding system is now recognized
by insurance companies in the South.
The rating schedule for gins in Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, South Caroli-
na, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and
Louisiana carries an added charge of
25 cents for each $100 for gins not
properly grounded. Some mutual
companies insuring gins in Texas
give a 15-cent credit on each $100
for gins grounded effectively.
-o-
Over 62,000 negro farm girls in the
15 Southern States enrolled in agri-
cultural extension clubs in 1922 to
learn better methods of food prepar-
ation and preservation, construction
and care o£ clothing, care of home,
poultry anil dairy work, and garden-
\
II
$11
; '
vX’&W&Iy,
r
■ill
i
methods by extension workers, have
a little more than doubled the aver-
For the last ten years Arkansas
corn-club boys, following culture mg. More than 70 per cent of these
club members completed the entire
year’s work as planned by agricul-
age corn yield per acre of the state, tural agents.
When farmers adopt pure-bred
sires to head their herds and flocks
it is not long before the percentage
of pure-bred females increass notice-
ably. 1 This encouraging tendency
toward more rapid improvement of
live stock has been brought about by
i
m
Visits to all the Eastern states made
by representatives of the Biological
Survey, United States . Department of
Agriculture, during 1922 to deter-
mine conditions of rodent pest in-
festation showed that in most of
these states considerable experimen-
ts’
| the United States Department o£^ ^a^jon wouic| necessary in order
I Agriculture in the Better bires Bet-1 a(jap^ contvol methods used in the
"'•j t8r Live Stock campaign. , West to Eastern needs.
| Of a total of more than 300,000 Many experiments were according-
; female animals listed by faimeis -L-° j Xy- undertaken during the past year,
have agreed to keep nothing bu. mos|- important of these was the
| pure-bred sires, more than 25 per
j cent are of pure breeding. On these
| farms scrubs have practically dis-
! appeared. For the larger animals
1 the reports show that only 2.4 per
! cent of the females are scrubs and
j of course, the males are of pure
| blood, as that is the basis on which
! the farms are listed.
development of a satisfactory field
mouse bait. Other experiments dealt
with the control of pests peculiar to
certain regions, as the land crabs,
roundtailed muskrats, ‘'gopher tur-
tles,” and swamp rabbits in Florida. .
An efficient repellent and tree wash
was sought for protecting young
fruit trees from depredations of eot-
Jne poultry flocks owned by these ^ontai^ vabbits. Investigations were
farmers are particularly well bred,
111
HI
n
j only 1.3 per cent of the female birds
; being listed as scrubs. More than 68
i per cent of the total of 610,000 birds
I are entered- on the list as standard
S bred. Among tire herds of swine
there are very few- scrub sows—only
"1.1 per cent. Nearly two-thirds of
them are pure bred.
This Federal-State effort to im-
mP
THE LIGHTHOUSE WITHOUT A KEEPER TO GUIDE PLANES
This* shows the Aairway lighthouse at Tartsfield, England, which
guides the Croydon-Paris airplanes across the Channel at night. This
lighthouse throws’ a beam of light to reach Lympne in Kent, and is only
visited twice a year. The lights are supplied with gas from the cylin-
ders below. There is a patent device on the top which automatically
lights the lamps when the sun goes down. The lights are so arranged
that when the sun comes up again the lights automatically are switched
switched off, and are lighted in the same manner of dull or cloudy days
also conducted with the use of car-
bon bisulphide and hyrdocyanic-acid
gas in fiumigating woodchucks in
their burrows. Tests were made with
proprietary poisons and repellents.
--o-
Reports received by the Biological
Survey from the Elk Refuge at Jack-
son Hole, Wyo., state that during the
prove
the live stock and poultry ofi approximately 3,400 elk-1 500
the country has now brought in a
at headquarters and 1,900 at the Ger-
, .. 1 main tract—were fed at the refuge.
“XrSSv he“ m feeding, which began on dan-
rnals and poultry. Farmers who
have become members have sent in
interesting accounts of their exper-
iences in improving their animals
and their bank accounts. Other
farmers who are taking part in the
work are invited by the department
to send their individual experiences
as well as those of community orga-
nizations engaged in the improvement
of live stock. Definrte facts and fig-
ures should be included whenever
possible.
uary 23, continued, for about 1 three
months. Two calf corrals were built
to separate the calves from the old-
er animals when feeding, and since
these have been constructed the con-
dition of the calves has been much
better. /
-o-
Problems dealing with corn grow-
ing are being sstudied by the agri-
tural experiment stations of thirty-
six states and three of the insular
possessions.
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Holland, W. D. & Buell, Ralph L. Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 20, Ed. 1 Wednesday, June 27, 1923, newspaper, June 27, 1923; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1003135/m1/9/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.