CANTALOUP CULTURE 
thumb and forefinger on the stem, when 
it should “slip,” that is, separate in the 
same manner as when real ripe, but re- 
quiring some little force but not enough 
to break the stem or flesh out; condi- 
tions of the vines and climate will at 
times vary the picker’s judgment to some 
extent; but by occasionally cutting a 
melon the point can be decided. It is 
very essential that pickers be carefully 
instructed, and closely watched, for the 
good returns should not be expected from 
green, or over-ripe cantaloupes. 
Packing and Crating 
The fruit should be carefully handled, 
not bruised or roughly shaken to loosen 
the seed cavity; it should be hurried to 
the shade and crated as soon as possible; 
the cantaloupes should be carefully grad- 
ed before crating, not only as to size, 
but for condition of ripeness, for there 
will always be some a little too ripe 
which must not be crated with the green- 
ripes, or the markets will suffer. In grad- 
ing, the ripe melons can often be mar- 
keted in local or nearby markets, and the 
ones just right reserved for the long dis- 
tance shipments. 
In crating the layers must be uniform 
and tight, but not so crowded as to crush 
or bruise the flesh, yet there should not 
be a loose melon in the crate if it is 
expected to carry well. 
In crating, the ends of the crates should 
be supported on the crating table, so that 
the slats can spring down in the center 
of the crate, then when the crate is fin- 
ished and nailed up there will be no 
spring of the slats to loosen the pack 
when the crate is picked up. 
Plate No. 8. 
Three Styles of Packing. 
T51 
Plate No. 9. 
basket is used in some sections for local 
trade. 
Pony and Jumbo Crates. The 
The crate has been the standard pack- 
age for a long distance haul, but there 
is a needed reform in the matter of grad- 
ing and packing cantaloupes, as the old 
style grading of ‘“‘pony,”’ “standard” and 
“jumbo” sizes has proven unsatisfactory. 
The standard 45-melon crate is good, but 
the “pony” has included too many imma- 
ture cantaloupes, and has not been 
profitable in general and should be dis- 
carded. The “jumbo” crate is too heavy 
to handle well, and often difficult to 
crate well, when there are only a few 
cantaloupes that run to the jumbo sizes. 
Three styles of crating cantaloupes are 
illustrated (Plate No. 8) which will prove 
adequate to handle the marketable canta- 
loupes in the simplest way; with only two 
styles of crates required. 
The standard sized cantaloupes would 
be first crated in a _ regular . standard 
crate 12x12x24, 45 cantaloupes to the 
crate, then a size larger packed in the 
same sized crate with 36 cantaloupes to 
the crate, packed with what is known 
as the “‘diamond”’ pack—as shown in the 
halftone (Plate No. 8). 
The larger jumbo sizes are then to be 
crated in a flat, one-layer crate with 12 
cantaloupes to the crate. This crate would 
probably need to be about 5x14x24; this 
would be easy to handle, and popular for 
private home trade. With this style of 
grading and packing, there could be just 
three classifications, “Standard 45s,” 
“Standard 36s” and “flats” and_ there 
would be less bruising, trying to crowd 
large cantaloupes into crates, and han- 
dling large unwieldy jumbo crates, be- 
sides simplifying the number of different 
crates. 
