CHAPTER VIII 

 HARVESTING AND MARKETING MELONS 



The time is fast approaching when the city buy- 

 ers — and they are the ones upon whom the large 

 commercial grower depends very largely for his 

 profits — will demand a better quality in the melons 

 they buy than they have been getting in the past ; 

 and the grower who has so developed the fineness 

 of flavor in his melons, as well as other good quali- 

 ties, by selection and breeding, as to establish a 

 reputation for furnishing a high-class melon to his 

 customers, is the one who is going to capture the 

 best markets in the land. 



It is a notable fact that our melon growers have 

 not given enough attention to this side of the busi- 

 ness. Most of their efforts seem to have been ex- 

 pended in developing types or strains which suited 

 their particular fancy or perhaps which their 

 markets demanded, without giving any particular 

 thought to the development of quality. Types and 

 strains are good so far as they go, but would it not 

 be possible for one to so improve the fineness of 

 flavor at the same time that the average buyer 

 would in time be able to associate a certain quality 

 or flavor with a certain grower's type or strain? I 

 am confident that the plant breeder of the future 

 will be able to do this. In fact, there are a few men 

 who have already made rapid strides in this direc- 

 tion, and, unless I am greatly mistaken, the next 



