236 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



HORTICULTURAL HINTS. 



Marketing the Melon Crop. — The shipment of the melon crop to 

 New York from the South has begun. The crop is a very large one and growers 

 realize that great care must be taken to realize good prices. Accordingly they 

 have asked the railroads to help them by keeping out all melons under weight, 

 18 lbs., and those sunburned, deformed, green or overripe. The crop this year 

 is estimated at 44,000 acres and the season lasts from June until October, 

 beginning with Florida melons and ending with those in the North, Jersey 

 melons ripening during September. The Southern melons are shipped over the 

 Atlantic coast dispatch line. They are packed in refrigerator cars, which are so 

 timed as to arrive in New York in the night, and are not touched from the time 

 they arrive until there. Receivers are compelled to pay the freight charges, which 

 are $ 1 20 for the all rail route and $100 for the part steamer. Each car contains 1,200 

 melons. The Georgia melon growers' association met at Albany, Ga., on June 

 5th and decided to employ six commission merchants instead of one as formerly. 

 They also pledged themselves to ship no melons under 18 lbs., nor any 

 defective ones. 



The First Prize Strawberries. — If you want the finest and nicest 

 strawberries next year do not allow your plants to set runners. Keep them cut 

 off and where every runner is cut off there will come up a fruit spur next spring 

 that will bear many berries. The quickest and easiest way to keep back the 

 runners is to go through the patch every week with a good sharp hoe. Do not 

 cut off merely the runners, but take all the weeds as well. It is necessary to 

 keep the ground cleared of weeds so that the plants may receive all the strength 

 of the soil. Running the cultivator through the patch every ten days or two 

 weeks will help in time of drouth and make the hoeing much less work. If you 

 want fine berries and are willing to give the plants a little extra care, the hill 

 system is by far the best. Where the matted row system is followed the weeds 

 are a little easier kept down, but the berries will not be as large or handsome. 

 In starting the matted rows the runners are allowed to take root between the 

 hills. 



A New Way of Selling. — The plan of selling fruit at auction is meeting 

 with much favor wheaever tried. In New York, oranges, lemons and many 

 tropical and sub-tropical fruits are sold this way. The first carload of 1,200 

 boxes of cherries that came into the Chicago market from California this year 

 were put up in that way and were all sold in twenty minutes. A consignment 

 of fruit is taken and two or three samples are opened and looked at by the 

 buyers. The auctioneer announces so many packages of such a mark. The 

 bidding begins and the highest bidder can take the whole lot or as many 

 packages as he wants. By this plan the buyer pays only what a thing is worth 

 and the seller is sure of getting all that his goods will bring. 



