Metons 1489 
however, forty-eight hours or more must elapse before the fruit 
reaches the consumer, it takes careful picking and a trained eye 
to anticipate the ripening of the fruit, so as to get it to the con- 
sumer before deterioration has commenced on account of over 
ripeness, unless refrigeration is available. In picking for any 
market the cantaloupe which is overlooked and allowed to re- 
main in the field one day too long is lost, or worse than lost if 
then put in the package. Disappointment in prices of sales is 
morc often caused by including too ripe fruit than from any 
other one cause. One the other hand, the watermelon can be kept 
from a week to ten days after picking without undergoing deteri- 
oration, and so can be shipped long distances without refrigeration. 
PROFITS 
The melons are crops that are best suited to farms where ex- 
tensive gardening operations are desired, rather than to those of 
small acreage where very intensive methods are practiced and large 
money returns are expected from each acre. 
One thousand watermelons from an acre is a very good crop, 
and ten to twenty dollars per hundred is a good range of prices. 
Cantaloupes seldom give more than five hundred five-eights- 
bushel baskets to the acre, and prices are liable to vary from thirty 
cents to one dollar per basket. These returns per acre would 
not be attractive to some market gardeners, but when we con- 
sider that fifty to seventy-five dollars per acre will cover the 
cost of producing and marketing these crops, the margin of profit 
is fair. Besides, other crops may be produced from the same 
ground at very little expense. Market peas planted early between 
the rows, grow well on the fertilizer applied for the melons, 
furnish a windbreak for the small melon plants, and the vines 
add humus and nitrogen to the soil at the time the melons most 
need it. A tomato plant placed between each hill ten days before 
the last cultivation has often materially increased the money 
return for us. 
One strong point is the fact that crimson clover and hairy vetch 
sowed at the last cultivation always makes a good growth, and 
a melon crop in the rotation improves the fertility and humus 
content of the soil. 
