16 



The Bulletin. 



a cut in price. It requires skill and practice to determine ripeness by 

 appearance, but a skillful picker can readily determine a ripe melon. If, 

 on the other hand, a lot of unskilled help are allowed to pick without a 

 skilled overseer, the grower will suffer in consequence, and the results 

 will be far from satisfactory. Consequently, one skilled man in charge 

 of a gang of pickers is absolutely necessary. 



Picking should be done every day in order that the fruit may be 

 shipped with some degree of uniformity of ripeness. As the season 

 advances, it will be necessary to make even two pickings a day, for then 

 the fruit ripens very quickly. 



Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the matter of handling. The 

 fruit should be picked and handled just as carefully as possible, in order 



Fig. 5. Loading freshly picked cantaloupes. 



to avoid bruising. Every time a cantaloupe is bruised it softens at the 

 bruised spot and rapidly breaks down, arriving on the market in a soft 

 and unsalable condition. The fruit as it is picked should be placed in 

 baskets or crates and then carried to some shaded spot as soon as possi- 

 ble. (See Fig. 5.) Many growers neglect to do this, but place the fruit 

 in piles and pay little attention as to whether they are in the sun or 

 shade. Fruit handled in this way cannot possibly arrive at its destina- 

 tion in a good marketable condition, no matter how carefully it may be 

 packed. Picking in bags or sacks is a bad practice, since it adds greatly 

 to the chances of bruising and other injuries. Enough picking recep- 

 tacles should be provided to allow the fruit to stay in them until ready 

 for grading and packing. The practice of picking into one receptacle, 

 and placing into another for hauling to the packing shed, is a bad one, 



