12 
Bulletin 108. 
Beginning with, the early nineties, there was a gradual increase in 
quantity as other sections of the country began shipping so that the sea¬ 
son gradually began earlier until melons for the 4th of July market were 
no longer considered a novelty. 
After the year 18 97, when Rockyfords were placed on the different 
markets and the standard crate established, the Rockyford seed for 
planting came to be in great demand in the southern states. 
In 1898, the first cars of southern cantaloupes grown from Roc.ky- 
ford seed were shipped from Hitchcock, Texas, and in the following yeai 
the first carloads from Florida arrived in New York on June 2; these were 
followed by shipments from Georgia, the Carolinas and other points far¬ 
ther north, keeping a steady supply on the market until the last ship¬ 
ments of the Colorado melons. 
The effect of the use of the Rockyford seed and of the standard 
crate was to make the cantaloupe a standard article of trade so that 
regular quotations could be made. 
Orders were received from cities and towns tributary to the large re¬ 
ceiving points, causing a demand at small points as well as large ones. 
This demand has increased so enormously since 1897, that I thought possibly 
a few figures carefully estimated would be of interest. 
In 1897 the amount consumed througout the United States was not 
over 400 carloads, gradually increasing until during the past season of 
1905, 6,920 carloads were used throughout the United States. The three 
largest markets the past year handled 1,4 60; 715 and 660 cars respectively. 
While the season for cantaloupes has changed from a period of less than 
two months to six months of carload business. 
The past three seasons have opened up about May 12 with shipments 
from Florida, car lots having been received on the market as early as 
May 22. During the height of the season, New York alone has received 
as high as 35 cars in a day. 
Prior to the introduction of the Rockyfords, the markets had no uni¬ 
form style of package, shipments being received in baskets, barrels, straw¬ 
berry crates and sometimes in dry goods boxes. There being no uni¬ 
formity, quotations were impossible, but with the establishment of the 
standard crate containing a uniform number of cantaloupes, the canta¬ 
loupe became a standard article of fruit which can be quoted intelli¬ 
gently, the buyer knowing what he is to receive in size and number, since 
the Rockyford seed produces the same size and shape in all states and is 
the only shape of cantaloupes that the buyers will buy. This has made 
it possible for both individuals and companies to plant a very large acreage. 
To give some idea of the seed industry, there was saved in the past 
season in the Rockyford district, from 90,000 to 100,000 pounds for dis¬ 
tribution in the different melon growing sections of the country. 
Before the advent of the Rockyfords, a ten-acre patch was con¬ 
sidered a large venture for any one grower and it is now well known 
that in some states one grower may sometimes attempt as high as 150 
acres. 
Prior to the Rockyfords no muskmelons worth speaking of were raised 
south of the Maryland Peninsula in the East, and Indiana and Missouri 
in the West; at the present time there are grown in the state of Florida, 
about 4,000 acres; in Georgia, about 4,000 acres; in North and South 
Carolina, about 4,500 acres, to say nothing of the aggregate of small 
acreage in other states; the total for the United States during the past 
season being not less than 58,600 acres. 
The supply from the beginning is continuous, the season in one state 
over-lapping that in another so there is no time after the commence¬ 
ment of the melon season when the markets are not supplied. Thus the 
trade has an opportunity to handle and the consumer an opportunity to 
purchase, so the cantaloupe at the breakfast table is no longer con¬ 
sidered a luxury but a necessity. 
