4 BULLETIN 315, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
fornia were on the New York market with those from Maryland; a 
section distant more than 3,000 miles competing with a shipping 
area only some 200 miles away. On August 15, Texas points, 2,100 
to 2,200 miles distant from New York City, were sending their 
melons to compete with those from New Jersey. New Mexico and 
Nevada compete with Indiana and Illinois for preference on the 
Chicago market. A good example of the competition between differ- 
ent producing areas is shown by the conditions on August 15 in the 
city of Chicago, when the melons from eight different States were 
quoted as being in direct competition with each other. It is inter- 
esting to note the wide area represented with Michigan in the North, 
Fig. 1.— Well graded and packed cantaloupes on the right. Crates at the left show shrinkage and the 
melons are jumbled, due to slack packing at point of production. Both lots were being sold by one 
commission firm, the crates at the right at a substantial profit and the ones at the left for less than 
transportation charges. 
Texas in the Southwest, California in the West, and Delaware and 
Maryland in the East. 
There are important reasons why competition from such widely 
separated areas is possible. Transportation and refrigeration facili- 
ties are such that it is now possible to deliver these shipments from 
distant points to eastern markets in practically as sound condition 
as that in which local supplies arrive. The question of competition 
narrows itself to a comparison of appearance and quality of the 
melons (figs. 1 and 2) and the difference in freight and refrigeration 
rates from these competing areas. If the melons from California and 
Texas are not superior in some way to those from Delaware, Mary- 
land, and Michigan, then they can not profitably enter the same 
market, unless the cost of production is sufficiently low to offset the 
increased freight and refrigeration charges. 
