48 MELON CULTURE 



fruits should be mature, but not ripe. A fruit is 

 mature when it has completed its growth ; it is ripe 

 when it is ready to eat. The melon should be ma- 

 ture when it is picked ; then it will usually be ripe 

 when it reaches the market, although this will be 

 governed largely by the distance they have to travel 

 and temperature to which they are subjected while 

 en route. 



Cantaloupes are generally shipped in refrigerator 

 cars when going long distances, and so they could 

 be left on the vines longer than many of them are, 

 and consequently would develop a much better 

 flavor than they now have. With our present trans- 

 portation facilities, it is not an easy matter to be 

 able to distinguish the right time for picking this 

 fruit for shipping long distances. The expert can 

 do it, and he does it in much the same way that the 

 apple grower tells when to pick his winter "apples — 

 by their general appearance, or when the water- 

 melon gives out just the right sound when thumped. 

 But the amateur cannot do this, and so he must re- 

 sort to Nature's method of picking — when the stem 

 will separate readily from the melon. 



I think that most consumers will agree that the 

 general tendency is for the southern grower, espe- 

 cially, to pick his melons too early. This is especially 

 true of cantaloupes. The temptation to get his 

 melons on to the market before his competitors, is 

 too great for most growers to withstand, and as a 

 result we find that there is much complaint about 

 the poor quality of the early melons. The only 

 justification offered for doing this is the higher 

 prices that these early shipments bring in the north- 

 ern markets. And this criticism is not confined en- 



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