4 BULLETIN" 315;, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



fornia were on the New York market with those from Maryland; a 

 section distant more than 3,000 miles competing with a shipping 

 area only some 200 miles away. On August 15, Texas points, 2,100 

 -to 2,200 miles distant from New York City, were sending their 

 melons to compete with those from New Jersey. New Mexico and 

 Nevada compete with Indiana and Illinois for preference on the 

 Chicago market. A good example of the competition between differ- 

 ent producing areas is shown by the conditions on August 15 in the 

 city of Chicago, when the melons from eight different States were 

 quoted as being in direct competition with each other. It is inter- 

 esting to note the wide area represented with Michigan in the North, 



Fig. 1.— Well evaded and packed cantaloupes on the right. Crates at the left show shrinkage and the 

 melons are jumbled, due to slack packing at point of production. Both lots were being sold by one 

 commission firm, the crates at the right at a substantial profit and the ones at the left for less than 

 transportation charges. 



Texas in the Southwest, California in the West, and Delaware and 

 Maryland in the East. 



There are important reasons why competition from such widely 

 separated areas is possible. Transportation and refrigeration facili- 

 ties are such that it is now possible to deliver these shipments from 

 distant points to eastern markets in practically as sound condition 

 as that in which local supplies arrive. The question of competition 

 narrows itself to a comparison of appearance and quality of the 

 melons (figs. 1 and 2) and the difference in freight and refrigeration 

 rates from these competing areas. If the melons from California and 

 Texas are not superior in some way to those from Delaware, Mary- 

 land, and Michigan, then they can not profitably enter the same 

 market, unless the cost of production is sufficiently low to offset the 

 increased freight and refrigeration charges. 



