PREFACE 



Melon growing has come to be an industry of vast 

 proportions in this country, few people having any 

 adequate conception of the extent of the industry. 

 There is scarcely a state in the Union in which the 

 melon does not play a more or less conspicuous 

 part in its vegetable productions. Even Canada, 

 which is generally considered as being too far north 

 for melon growing, produces some surprisingly fine 

 melons, especially in the eastern portion, where 

 they are grown quite extensively under frames. The 

 United States is, however, the principal field for out- 

 door melon culture, and it is to this section mostly 

 that the following pages are intended to apply. 



The results of the census of 1910 are not yet avail- 

 able, but, basing our calculations on the report of 

 the Census Bureau of 1900, and making a fair allow- 

 ance for increase in acreage and production during 

 the last decade, we now have in the United States 

 in round numbers 290,000 acres devoted to melon 

 growing. This is divided between the muskmelon 

 and the watermelon in the proportion of about one 

 to three. The yearly production, according to these 

 estimates, would be about 175,000,000 muskmelons 

 and 225,000,000 watermelons, or more than four 

 melons to each person in the United States. We 

 see, therefore, that this is no mere market garden 

 .crop, but that it covers vast areas. Commercially 

 speaking, therefore, it may be classed among the 

 farm crops of the present day. , 



