MUSKMELONS 



299 



Climax basket, which has a handle and a raised, ventilated lid, as 

 shown in figure in. The fitness of these different receptacles for 



use in any particular 

 section is determined 

 by the distance to the 

 market and the size 

 and character of the 

 fruits to be trans- 

 ported. . From some 

 localities in the vicin- 

 ity of Boston, where 

 the Montreal melon 

 is grown, the fruits are 

 packed in straw to 

 prevent bruising and 

 shipped in large ham- 

 pers made of willow, 

 which are returned to 

 the growers after the 

 melons are sold. 



FIG. in. Climax baskets used for shipping small 

 melons (after Lloyd) 



Muskmelons which are packed in any one of the receptacles 

 described above can be transported long distances. The product 

 from the Rocky Ford region of Colorado is marketed chiefly in the 

 North and East, many of these 

 melons finding their way into 

 the Boston market. 



Muskmelons in frames. In 

 the Southern states musk- 

 melons and watermelons are 

 frequently started under forc- 

 ing boxes, as shown in figure 

 32, or in cold frames, as shown 

 in figure 12 (p. 55), to insure 

 early fruit for a special market. 

 This type of cultivation is not 

 general. In the vicinity of Montreal, however, a very remunerative 

 and quite extensive melon trade is wholly conducted on a plan 

 which is a combination of hotbed and open-air cultivation. This is 



FIG. 112. Willow basket used in market- 

 ing Montreal muskmelons 



