52 



MELON CULTURE 



reason. In fact, they should not be subjected to 

 the direct rays of the sun after they are taken from 

 the vines if they are to be shipped long distances. 

 They should be covered while on their way from the 

 field to the packing shed and kept in the shade until 

 loaded for shipment. Instead of this, a common 

 method employed, in harvesting cantaloupes espe- 

 cially, is for the pickers to go over the fields with 

 baskets, picking those which, in their opinion, are 

 ripe enough for shipping (See Fig. u.) They are 

 then placed in crates at the ends of rows or along 

 a driveway, where they remain in the hot sun until 

 they are gathered up and loaded on to fiat wagon 

 beds and hauled to the packing shed, which often 

 consists of a roof supported by posts, and which 

 is large enough to hold several loads of melons and 

 still leave room for making and storing crates. 

 (See Fig. 12.) 



Packing As It Is Usually Done. — As the melons 

 come from the field, they are loaded on to an incline 

 table, the size of which will depend upon the size 

 of the crop to be harvested, but it will usually hold 

 several wagonloads. The packers stand at the lower 

 side of this incline, and as the melons are unloaded 

 they are carefully sorted and graded into sizes ac- 

 cording to the style of package to be used. This 

 work is done very rapidly by those who are accus- 

 tomed to it, an expert very rarely picking up a 

 melon the second time. His eye becomes so trained 

 that a glance is all that is necessary to satisfy him 

 as to the proper place for each particular melon. 

 Each crate or basket holds the same number of 

 melons of any given grade, and they are all as 

 nearly the same size as it is possible to get them. 



