230 TRUCK-FAKMING AT THE SOUTH. 



AVOIDABLE LOSSES. 



The melon, like most other plants, is subject to insect 

 depredations ; but it is not from losses to the farmer by 

 these minute objects, nor by the unfavorableness of sea- 

 sons (although the melon is among the most uncertain 

 of crops), nor by any of the other contingencies which so 

 often make the profits of the agriculturist doubtful, 

 that his success and his income are diminished; but by 

 depredations and theft. After his crop is harvested, 

 quick and safe transportation to market is a chief factor 

 in successful truck-farming. Without it the industry 

 must fail. 



With the transportation lines from Savannah, I 

 have had an experience of twenty-seven years. In that 

 time I have been the largest, and am now the oldest 

 grower of melons in this immediate region, and know 

 whereof I write. Previous to the war, the pilfering of 

 melons was carried on to such an extent that two Sea 

 Island cotton planters, my relatives, who planted them 

 most extensively, were by self -protection compelled to 

 admit the captains, or pursers of the steamships, into co- 

 partnership, allowing them a part of the profits. Then, 

 and then only, could melons be shipped with safety. 

 Since that time, a vast improvement has been made. If 

 it be a difficult matter to prevent these losses to the ship- 

 per, the agency shows a praiseworthy endeavor to curtail 

 them, and there seems to be a fair prospect of still further 

 future improvement. 



The two Northern markets, where melons invariably 

 command the highest prices, are Boston and New York. 

 Under the same conditions of safety the preference would 

 be decidedly in favor of the former ; but the handling 

 has been so careless, and the " shortage " so outrageous, 

 as to discourage shipments to that market. 



I have lost as many as two hundred and twenty-nine 



