470 
VEGETABLE GARDENING 
to harvest the crop for a number of years can invariably 
tell when a melon is ripe, but they are unable to explain 
how they know. The sound emitted when the melons 
are “thumped” is the most reliable means of deter- 
mining the state of ripeness. Regarding this matter the 
Georgia Station (Ga. Sta. Rul. 38, p. 76) calls attention 
to the advice of the old negro “mammy” in the ballad, 
when she berated her grandson for stealing a green 
melon: “Be shore, when you thumps ’em dey alius soun’ 
‘plunk.’” The Arizona Station (Circular 44) writes: 
“Most varieties give forth a distinctly different sound 
when ripe and when green. The greener the melon, the 
sharper and more metallic is the ring that it gives forth 
if snapped with the finger. As the melon matures and 
becomes less solid, it gives forth a somewhat hollow and 
distinctly muffled ring. The riper the melon, the more 
nearly the sound given will be like that produced when 
the palm of the hand is snapped with the finger. Some 
varieties will be ready for market, while the melons still 
give forth a somewhat metallic sound, while others must 
be left on the vines until the sound is quite a ‘dead’ one. 
These are matters that can soon be learned by experi- 
ence. The writer knows by long experience that if 
proper precaution is taken and a doubtful melon cut oc- 
casionally, there is little excuse for ever putting a green 
melon upon the market.” 
The test of the tendril (the melon being considered 
ripe when the tendril is dead) is unreliable. When the 
underside of the melon “begins to turn yellowish and be- 
comes rough, pimply or warty, with the surface suffi- 
ciently hard to resist the fingernail when scratched, it 
is usually a fair sign of ripeness.” 
Watermelons are shipped in bulk in box cars, which 
are bedded with straw. They are usually loaded four 
deep in the cars and the freight paid according to 
weight. The following table shows the number of 
