26 



BULLETIISr 401, U. S. DEPASTMEIs^T OF AGEICXJLTXJEE. 



for a few moments each morning and spend the rest of the day on the 

 loadmg platform, inspecting melons as they are brought in by the 

 ranchers. This system seems to work satisfactorily under Arizona 

 conditions. 



Percentage of Ponies. 



Because of proper selection of varieties and favorable climatic con- 

 ditions in 1915, the percentage of ponies was very small as compared 

 with the Imperial Valley. It is very doubtful if quality could be 

 improved in this respect, as the losses from excessive production 

 of pony melons were very small. The fact that the per acre yield 

 is somewhat less than in the Imperial Valley may be an influencing 

 factor in the production of a smaller percentage of ponies. Records 

 of shipments taken from July 6 to 9 are as follows : 



Table 10. — Percentages of ponies and other -melons shipped from the Salt River Valley. 





Green meats. 



Piuk meats. 



Shipper. 



Ponies. 



Jnm- 

 bos. 



Stand- 

 ards. 



Two- 

 thirds 

 jumbos. 



Jumbo 



flats. 



Pony 

 flats. 



Jumbo 



flats. 



Stand- 

 ard 

 flat 12's. 



Stand- 

 ard 

 flat 15's. 



A . ... 



Per ct. 

 7.0 

 16.4 



7.7 



Per ct. 

 30.3 



Per ct. 

 38.5 

 83.6 

 41.7 



Per ct. 

 11.0 



Per ct. 

 14.2 



Per ct. 

 13.3 

 6.7 

 11.9 



Per ct. 

 15.1 



Per ct. 

 52.0 

 50.0 

 88.1 



Per ct. 

 19.6 



B 



4.3 



C 





50.6 









DISTRIBUTION. 



Returns to Growers. 



Distribution problems in aU western melon sections are practically 

 the same. Results in Arizona in 1915 were especially favorable, 

 because of the almost total failure of the Indiana crop and the gener- 

 ally poor quality of melons from eastern sections which usually com- 

 pete with Arizona. Pools of season averages, published by two 

 distributors, show, in Table 11, the returns to Salt River Valley 

 grov/ers in 1915. 



Table 11. — Average returns per crate to two Salt River Valley growers during 1915 



season. 





Green meats. 





Pink meats. 



m 



Shipper A. 



Shipper B.i 



Shipper A. 



Shipper B.' 



Two-thirds jumbos 



Standard 



$0.80 

 1.107 



10. 667 

 1.00 



Standard flat I2's 



Standard flat 15's 



SO. 364 



SO. 385 

 .30 



Jumbo flats 



.365 









.195 



Ponies 



.683 



.58- 







.41 





Ponies (45's and 54's) 



.714 









1 Approximate. 



