172 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



PACKING AND MARKETING CANTA- 

 LOUPES 



W. F. Allen of Wicomico county, Maryland, 

 says : " There is some difference of opinion about 

 picking cantaloupes. It is necessary to pick 

 greener when the fruits are to be several days in 

 transit, but I will give my way of doing it. The 

 first half of the season I pick as soon as the stems 

 can be forced with the thumb to part from the fruit 

 without breaking out a piece of the melon with it; 

 that is, it must come off smooth, and not tear or 

 break the flesh. This condition should prevail be- 

 fore the cantaloupe has begun to turn yellow. A 

 cantaloupe that is in this condition and just right 

 to ship one day will be quite yellow and unfit for 

 transportation the next day. After the season is 

 one-half to two-thirds gone and the weather is 

 very hot, as is usually the case, I find it safe to cut 

 them off with stems after they are full grown and 

 densely netted. It requires careful help to pick 

 a crop of cantaloupes without considerable loss 

 from picking too green or too ripe. In either case, 

 those too ripe or too green should not go in the 

 package. An expert should follow just behind 

 every 15 or 20 pickers to see that they are doing 

 their work properly. Wagons should be ready to 

 take the cantaloupes to the packing shed soon after 

 they are brought out to the end of the rows. 



" All handling should be carefully done to pre- 

 vent bruising and bursting. When the fruits ar- 

 rive at the packing shed, the packers, mostly 

 women, hurry them into the crates, which hold 45 

 cantaloupes each. Every cantaloupe should be 

 perfect. One crate, well packed, carefully culled, 

 and in perfect order, is worth three that may be 



