Melons 1480 



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 

 more 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. 



