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AGRICULTURAL NEWS OF THE WEEK Number ll5~ Wednesday, March 19, 1952 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas C O T T ON Spot cotton markets are stronger th is week than they have been in more than a month. Middling 15/16-inch cotton on the Dallas market reached h i ,00 cents per pound on Monday, March 17, which compares with 50.10 cents a week e a rlie r and 39*65 a month ago. This rise in the market is said to have resulted p rin cip a lly from a growing fe e lin g on the part of many people in the cotton trade that a +ight cotton supply situ ation w ill develop before the 1952 crop is harvested. I t has been announced that the procedure to be followed by cotton farmers in obtaining cotton c la s s ific a tio n and cotton market news services in 1952 under the Smith-Doxey Act vj±ll""be'utfeT same as in 1951., Planting permits for cotton in the Lower Rio Grande V alley neared the m illion-acre” mark la s t week, according to the PMA. The cotton that is up has made l i t t l e growth. In the Coastal Bend area, about 50% of the acreage has been planted, and planting is in f u l l swing. However, moisture is needed in a l l sections of south Texas. G R A I NS Wheat p r ices in Fort Worth th is week are at the highest lev els since early January. No, 1 hard wheat sold Monday at $2.78 per bushel, for a gain of 6-1/2 cents since the f i r s t of the month. Prices were o ff l/2 cent on Tuesday. No, 2 yellow corn sold Tuesday at $2.15 per bushel, for a gain of 10 cents for the month thus fa r , while No, 2 white corn at $2e33-3A likew ise was up 10 cents. Corn prices are near the levels of a month ago but su b sta n tia lly below those of December and January. Sorghum grain in Fort Worth reached $3-19 per cwt. th is week, which equals the peak of lave January; th is is the highest price paid since the market break in June 1958. Rough and mille d ric e t rade in Louisiana and Texas was more active la s t week and prices held steady”, according to the PMA. Rough rice trade was lim ited mostly to the lower grades, with bids on better grades generally below the govern ment loan value. Good m illin g q u ality No. 2 rough Bluebonnet was quoted at $5.85 per 100 pounds. As fie ld s dried in east Texas la s t week, corn planting moved northward and was gettin g started in the counties along the Red"River. ” In some important corn-producing counties in central Texas, mere than h a lf of the intended acreage is in the ground. Grain sorghum planting is p r a c tic a lly completed in the Coastal Bend and is under way in the BlackTanas," L I V E S T O C K Slaughter c a ttle were weak to 50 cents lower in price th is week on the Fort Worth market, according to PMA reports. Stocker c a ttle held steady. Good and Choice fed steers and yearlings cashed at $29 to $35. Common and Medium butcher steers and yearlings sold fo r $22 to $ 28 , Good and Choice slaughter calves sold Tuesday at $30 to $35, while P lain and Medium butcher sorts brought $23 to $29. Good and Choice butcher hogs averaging 180 to 2o0 pounds cashed at $16.75 to $ 1 7 . Feeder pigs sold from $13 down. Good and Choice m ilk -fat lambs sold Tuesday at $26 to $27, and Medium to Good milk lambs brought $23 to $25. Feeder lambs sold at $17 to $23,50. AGRICJJLTURAL NEWS _0F THE PIEEK Number 116 Wednesday.,, March 19, 1952 ' Page 7 Medium 75--95-lb. recently shorn Angoras sold in San Antonio th i° vreek at 113 to $15. Kids moved in a $5o0-7.50 price spread, A rencrt th is week on IMS. cold storage holdings of meats at the end of February shows that there was more of p r a c tic a lly a l l important types o f meat and meat products in storage than a year e a r lie r . A sharp decline in stocks of lard was the prin cipal exception. Reports show that shipments of stocker and feeder c a ttle and calves into eight Corn Belt states in Ja n .-F e b ., in clu siv e, totaled about 309,000* hlad, compared with 321,000 a year e a r lie r . Shipments of sheep and lambs reached 261,000 vs. 215,000 a year ago. The USDA has announced that the ban on Importation of Mexican c a t t le , in e ffe c t since December 19 )46, w ill be lifte d " by September 1, T f there""are no~""moi~e outbreaks of hoof and mouth"disease south""of the border. Before the embargo, the U .Se received more than 300,000 head of Mexican c a ttle yearly. The USDA has assigned additional workers to the Canadian border to guard against the importation of c a ttle . Imports were terminated"follow in^th e outbreak of hoof and mouth disease there in February. W 0 0 L A N D____M 0 II A I R A few buyers with orders continued to take up mohair in Texas la s t week at $ 1 .0 0 fo r adult and $ 1 .2 5 for kid mohair to the warehouse, according to reports of the PMA. No wool business in Texas is reported. Texas farmers and ranchers -produced $8,712,000 pounds of wool in 1951, according to revised figures issued by the USDA. Farm prices for wool "averaged $ 1 .0 1 per pound la s t year, while cash receipts from sale of wool totaled $)49 , 199,000 - by far the highest on record. Revised estimates of mohair production in the U .S. la s t year show a decline of 3% from 1950, instead of"a rise as reported recently. Production in the seven leading mohair-producing states is estimated at 1 2 , 888,000 pounds, compared with 1 3 , 2$5 ,000 pounds in 1950 and'-'a 'record 22 , 008,000 pounds .i n •1985 Mohair production in Texas in 1951 totaled 12,280,000 pounds - 3% below the 1950 c lip . Ranchers received* an average of $1.19 per pound for mohair la s t year, while value of the 1951 c lip is placed at $ 1 8 , 613,000 - the highest on record. . ... MI S - C E L L A N E 0 U S Egg production in Texas is running considerably above a year ago, when output was ""curtailed follow ing expiration o f ; price- supports. -Production"in the State in January-February totaled 53$ m illio n s, compared with $$2 m illions a year e a r lie r . Production is up also in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The early summer watermelon acreage in Texas is estimated at 68,000 acres, compared with 61,000 acres in 1951 ". The Texas early spring onion crop is estimated by the USDA at $',020,000 sacks, compared with 2 , 02$ , 000 ' sacks la s t year and a 1981-56 average of 3,929,000 sacks. The greater part of the increase in acreage th is year is in the Coastal Bend area, which had no acreage for harvest la s t year. Milk production in Texas is up from a year ago. Production in. February totaled 273 m illion gallons’^ compared with 266 m illion gallons in February 1951.W. M. P r itc h e tt A g r ic u ltu r a l Economist
