Texas Almanac, 1943-1944 Page: 146
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146 TEXAS ALMANAC -1943-1944
extreme north and south sections of the state,
part of the production coming from the Pan-
handle Plains and part from Jim Wells, Frlo,
Medina, Hidalgo and other counties south of
San Antonio. Texas broomcorn goes largely
to Texas factories. (See statistics, page 140.)
Texas Vegetable and Fruit Crops.
The tomato production of Texas is in three
distinct movements. The first begins in mid-
November in the Rio Grande Valley, reaches
a peak in December and closes in late Janu-
ary or early February. The second movement,
which is from the coastal area, begins in
April, reaches a peak in May and ends in
June. The third is the upper East Texas
movement, which begins usually in early
June, reaches a peak about the latter part
of that month and closes in July. While the
Rio Grande Valley and coastal movements are
appreciable, the East Texas shipments ac-
count for more than one half of the total
tomato movement from the state. The East
Texas industry is centered around Jackson-
ville. Cherokee and Smith Counties are the
leading producers. However, there has been
wide expansion of the tomato industry
throughout the sandy lands of East Texas
during the last six or seven years, and there
are carlot shipments from ten or fifteen
counties. As with most other early truck,
practically all of the Texas movement is to
out-of-state markets and for immediate con-
sumption. However, there has been develop-
ment of a tomato canning industry in the
last few years. (See statistics, page 140.)
Spinach is one of the largest and most
consistent of Texas truck crops. An average
of 4,800,000 bushels are harvested from an
annual acreage of about 38,000. Beginning
about 1911 spinach production has increased
rapidly. It has the distinction of being pro-
duced almost solely for the commercial
market, 95 per cent of it probably going to
out-of-state points. The center of Texas
spinach production is in the Winter Garden,
Zavala and Dimmit Counties leading. A single
farm in Zavala County has produced more
spinach than any state in the Union outside
of Texas. Spinach is also grown in the lower
Rio Grande Valley, in the Coastal Bend area
near Corpus Christi and in small quantities
throughout East Texas. The larger part of
the production is under irrigation though
there is some dry land production of spinach
in East Texas. The spinach movement in
Texas is in late winter and early spring.
Principal shipping point is Crystal City. (See
statistics, page 140.)
Practically all of the onion production of
Texas is of the Bermuda variety. Chief shiu-
ments are from the irrigated sections in the
Rio Grande Valley at Laredo, the Winter
Garden section of Dimmit and Zavala Coun-
ties, the lower Rio Grande Valley, the Coastal
Bend area near Corpus Christi and the north-
ern portion of the Blackland Belt. Production
is usually under irrigation, but production in
the northern part of the Blackland Belt,
which began around Farmersville in Collin
County some years ago, has spread over a
wide area in contiguous counties and is on
dry farms. Farmersville and Garland are
large shipping points. The onion movement
in South Texas begins In March and reaches
its peak in May. The North Texas movement
comes on the market a little later and con-
tinues until July. An interesting development
in recent years has been the growth of a
Bermuda onion seed industry in Texas All
of the seed were formerly imported from
Teneriffe, Canary Islands. (See statistics,
page 140.)
There is an annual production of more than
1.500,000 bushels of carrots, average acreage
in recent years having been about 8,000
Production is largely in the Lower RioGrande Valley, but there is a commercial
movement from other South Texas points and
East Texas. (See statistics, page 140.)
There is an annual acreage of 2,000 to
5,000 in cucumbers with a production of
100,000 to 500,000 bushels. Most of the pro-
duction is in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
and other South Texas irrigated areas, but
there is a commercial movement from East
Texas points also. There has been an increase
of production for pickling in recent years, but
is not being encouraged under the war pro-
gram of 1943.
Acreage and production of peppers has in-
creased slowly but consistently for fifteen
years, and is now about five times what it
was in 1925. Production is principally in the
Lower Rio Grande Valley, Laredo irrigated
section and Winter Garden. (See statistics,
page 140.) Snap beans are grown largely in
the Winter Garden, Rio Grande Valley and
other South Texas irrigated sections, and
there Is a large commercial movement.
Mexican bean varieties are grown in the
Upper Rio Grande Valley and Pecos area.
Commercial movement of peas comes largely
from the Rio Grande Valley and Winter
Garden. There is a fairly sizable commercial
movement, and during the last few years
there has developed a considerable commer-
cial canning industry. The Texas pea crop
is divided into two classifications. There is
the black-eyed pea (cowpea) crop that is cen-
tered in Henderson County. (See "Black-
eyed Peas," page 145.) There is the green pea
which is grown in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley and other irrigated sections for the
early market. See statistics, page 140 )
Garlic is produced in the coastal region in
several communities. Moulton, Lavaca County,
has been the principal shipping point. Texas
produces an average of 28,000 crates of lettuce
from an average of 430 acres, production
being principally in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley.
The Texas cabbage production comes pri-
marily from the area around Corpus Christi,
the Rio Grande Valley and the Winter
Garden. Due to the extremely wide range in
the market in recent years production has
fluctuated. Texas production is largely for
table use. However, there has been an in-
creasing acreage contracted for kraut manu-
facture. This is a development that may
bring a much larger cabbage industry to
Texas. (See statistics, page 140.)
There has been considerable expansion of
the beet crop of Texas. Table beets are
grown extensively in the South Texas irri-
gated regions. The sugar beet has been
grown in recent years in the Great Plains
area, centered around Plainview, where there
has been considerable production for seed
which are shipped to Colorado. Shipments
of beets are to Colorado refineries. On sev-
eral occasions there has been a movement to
build a beet sugar refinery in the Plainview
area but it has never materialized. (See
statistics, page 140.)
Cauliflower is grown in the autumn and
winter, principally in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. Eggplant is grown in the Lower Rio
Grande Valley and other South Texas irri-
gated areas for fall and winter market.
Citrus Fruits.
Texas produced its all-time record citrus
fruit crop during the 1942-1943 season-
18,000,000 boxes of grapefruit, 3,000,000 of
oranges and 1,000,000 of miscellaneous citrus,
valued at $40,000,000.
Texas is the third ranking state in citrus
fruit production, being exceeded by California
and Florida. Texas is exceeded by only
Florida in production of grapefruit, however.
Texas is especially known for the fine quality
of its grapefruit. Nearly all of the Texas
crop comes from the Lower Rio Grande
Valley, though there is some production in
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Texas Almanac, 1943-1944, book, 1943; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117165/m1/148/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.