576 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



areas. If the melons from California and Texas are not superior in 

 some way to those from Delaware, Maryland, and Michigan, then they 

 cannot profitably enter the same market, unless the cost of production 

 is sufficiently low to offset the increased freight and refrigeration 

 charges. 



A close study of the larger markets leaves no doubt, that in a 

 general way higher prices are paid for cantaloupes grown under irriga- 

 tion than for those grown under rainfall. While the latter may be 

 of equal quality at tunes, the quality varies more from week to week 

 with changes in temperature, rainfall, and sunshine at the point of 

 origin. If irrigation is controlled properly, the western cantaloupes 

 never lie on wet ground, and are almost entirely free from the unat- 

 tractive white side which characterizes most of those grown under 

 rainfall, especially in very wet seasons. 



Table II gives the car-lot rates for freight and refrigeration from 

 several well-known cantaloupe shipping sections to 12 of the large 

 markets in the East and Middle West. 



In the immediate vicinity of many important markets a large 

 acreage of cantaloupes is planted annually. These cantaloupes can 

 be placed on the home market at a minimum of expense as there are 

 no heavy freight and refrigeration charges to pay and in some cases 

 the packages are returned to the grower. The saving in transporta- 

 tion charges is considerable, as indicated in Table II. In addition 

 to this, the local growers have the great advantage of being able to 

 offer dealers a daily supply of freshly picked melons. In many cases, 

 in 1914, it was possible to dispose profitably of a local crop at prices 

 which would not return the distant car-lot shipper his cost of trans- 

 portation. 



181. ENLARGING THE ZONE OF THE CITY'S MILK SUPPLY 1 

 BY EUGENE MERRITT 



In 1842, when the Erie Railroad was under construction, one of 

 the New York City milkmen began to ship milk from Orange County. 

 This milk proved to be of such good quality that the traffic spread 

 rapidly. In a few years the Harlem division of the New York Central 

 began to haul milk from the counties on the west bank of the Hudson 

 River. At the same time the Newburgh, Dutchess, and Connecticut 

 branch of the Central New England was shipping milk to New York 



1 Adapted from Bulletin 177, United Slates Department of Agriculture, pp. 10-14. 



