146 Truck Geowikg in the South. 



cars. The melons shoiild be thoroughly ripe through and 

 through, not pink, but red ready to eat. 



The old ideia that watermelons will ripen some after be- 

 ing clipped from the vines has long since been proven to 

 be a fallacy. Melons must be good to eat when shipped if 

 they are good to eat at destination. 



The industry suffers more from shipping green melons 

 than any other thing. If every car could be guaranteed to 

 be perfectly ripe when shipped, I believe that the average 

 price on our melons in Georgia would be advanced $10.00 

 per car ; but dealers have learned from sad experience that 

 the risk of loss from green melons is very great, therefore, 

 they hedge against this probable loss by shading the price 

 from $5.00 to $20.00 per car. 



This loss is sustained by the grower and is caused by 

 the selfish, penny-wise, pound-foolish farmer who clips his 

 melons too green in order to rush them on the market 

 ahead of his neighbor, hoping thereby to secure a fancy 

 price. 



Melons should not be pitched into cars like they were 

 basballs but should be handled tenderly into the wagons in 

 the fields and we should be just as careful in handling 

 them into the car. I have seen many a melon buyer turn 

 away in disgust from a car of melons that were being 

 handled like pig-iron by the owner or packer because this 

 buyer knew that if a melon is bruised as it is put into the 

 car or the heart broken loose from the side perhaps, that 

 this melon would be worthless at its final destination a 

 week later. 



The loss from rotten melons each year is largely caused 

 by the rough handling of the loaders. The melons should 



