6 
Bulletin 108. 
railroad and commission men. A few cars of cantaloupes which 
Messrs. G. W. Swink and A. C. Comer that season shipped to 
Kansas City and St. Louis caused a new star of hope to rise in 
the Eastern horizon, and visions of great possibilities for future 
market developments. 
The unremunerative returns of several years having created 
a strong public sentiment that something must be done, the time 
seemed to be ripe for a more comprehensive co-operative organiza¬ 
tion. Accordingly a meeting was called in the fall of 1896; by¬ 
laws were drafted and articles of incorporation were filed for the 
Rockyford Melon Growers Association. It embraced practically 
all the cantaloupe growers of Otero county with the exception of 
several individuals who by reason of the organization were able 
to secure good prices from certain commission men who were 
trying hard to disrupt the organization. The Kouns Party was 
absorbed by the Association, it being understood that H. Woods 
should represent the Association in the Denver market. The gen¬ 
eral plan of the Association was to market all cantaloupes possible, 
and when from lack of cars or insufficient market, the melons could 
not be handled, the grower was given a receipt and his canta¬ 
loupes returned to him to be cut for seed or to be fed to stock. 
The proceeds of those which were marketed were divided pro rata 
according to the receipts which the growers held. 
The first season a contract was made with the Western Poul¬ 
try and Game Co. of St. Louis, Mo., which agreed to take thirty- 
five cars during the season of 1897 at 75 cents per crate, f. o. b. at 
Rockyford. The quality of the cantaloupes that season was ex¬ 
ceptionally fine, and they sold so readily on the Eastern markets, 
that by the close of the season the St. Louis firm had handled 
121 cars. On several occasions, circumstances necessitated the 
return of the cantaloupes to the grower, which, according to the 
terms of the Association were receipted for, and which reduced 
the average price per crate during the- season, yet for once in 
the history of the cantaloupe industry, the returns were satisfactory. 
The following year the Manager of the Western Poultry 
and Game Co. came before the Association and reported that 
tEe previous year had been a profitable one to his com¬ 
pany, they having cleared a considerable sum, exclusive of large 
amounts spent in advertising; he claimed that they had secured 
reliable agents in New York, Pittsburg and other cities in the 
East, to assist them, and offered to contract the crop of 1898 at 
97/4 cents per crate, f. o. b. at Rockyford. The proposition was 
received with enthusiasm. 
The membership of the Association swelled to over 800 mem¬ 
bers, and the acreage increased to more than 5,000 acres in Otero 
