CANTALOUPE MARKETING IN THE LARGER CITIES. 9 
are warned against their use should realize that the objections to 
such packages are well founded. 
Table 3 illustrates the need for standardization of packages used 
in marketing cantaloupes. It shows the different types and sizes of 
containers which were being quoted on the Milwaukee market from 
three States on one day during the 1914 season: 
Table 3. — Cantaloupe packages in use in Milwaukee on the same day. 
From Arizona: 
Standard crates 45 melons. 
Jumbo crates 36 or 45 jumbo melons. 
Two-thirds crates 30 melons. 
Pony crates 54 melons. 
Standard flat crates. 12 or 15 melons. 
Pony flat crates 15 melons. 
Jumbo flat crates 9 or 12 melons. 
From Illinois: 
Climax baskets 14 to 20 melons. 
Flat cases 10 to 18 melons. 
Pony cases 16 melons. 
Crates 1 bushel. 
From Indiana: 
Standard crates 36 or 45 melons. 
Flat— 24 inches long 15 to 18 melons. 
Flat — 20 inches long 12 to 15 melons. 
Basket crates about J bushel. 
Climax baskets 14 to 20 melons. 
EFFECT OF WEATHER ON DEMAND AND PRICE. 
The demand for few fruits fluctuates more quickly in response to 
changes in weather conditions than does that for cantaloupes. Clear, 
hot days stimulate consumption to its maximum while a cold, rainy 
period acts as a decided check, often reducing demand to the point of 
demoralizing prices. To local growers such an occurrence is not so 
detrimental as it is to those far from market who may have hundreds 
of cars rolling, so allotted as to give each eastern city a supply which 
should be its maximum under best selling conditions. In such cases 
a few cold, rainy days in the East may so stagnate the markets that 
very heavy losses result. 
Such conditions occurred during September, 1914, while the ship- 
ments of Colorado ' ' pink meats ' ' were moving heavily. From about 
the 10th to the 16th of the month most of the States in the North and 
East experienced unusually cold weather, accompanied by rain in 
some sections. Light frosts were reported from several points. The 
effect of this was to decrease to a marked extent the demand for Colo- 
rado cantaloupes and reduce to a still lower level prices which were 
already ruinous to the shippers. 
7710°— 15— Bull. 315 2 
