14 
Bulletin 108 . 
known to have the best line of selection. They should insist on uniform 
grading and packing and permit no inferior cantaloupes to be marketed 
or even cut for seed. 
By such action a reputation can be secured and maintained which will 
greatly benefit the melon industry. On the other hand, carlessness on the 
part of a few, may work irreparable injury to the industry. 
We wish to express our satisfaction in dealing with organized growers. 
It has been more satisfactory to the growers themselves as well as the 
trade, and the co-oprative spirit that has been shown in some of the com¬ 
munities of the melon growing section in Colorado, is worthy of being 
emulated in other sections of the country. 
Transportation under modern refrigeration has made possible the 
great melon industry. Melons will carry to the most distant markets if 
the proper conditions are provided. Usually the melons are warm when 
loaded, the temperature often being over a hundrd degrees in the shade. 
The car may stand six or eight hours before it is made up and even 
if it starts soon after being loaded, the enormous heat in 350-400 crates 
of melons is more than the ice in the bunkers can absorb; the hot, close 
air generates a ferment that results in the partial or complete loss of 
the melons. It is a fact that in cars of cantaloupes which heat or are 
spoiled, the injury is done in the first 24 hours. 
Mr. Li. M. Lyons, the President of our Company, has been studying the 
problem and has perfected a patent cooling process, which exhausts the 
hot air while the car is being loaded and waiting to start on its long 
journey, thus avoiding the formation of degenerating gases. 
During the season of 1905, the process was used for the first time 
at Thermal, Cal.; the cars were three days in being loaded and the out¬ 
side temperature during the day varied from 123-130 degrees in the shade, 
but arrived in New York in perfect condition and sold as high as $2,506 
gross, per car. 
During the coming season, the process will be tested in Colorado and 
the Southern states. 
MARKET DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROCKYFORD CAN¬ 
TALOUPE. 
H. WOODS. 
My experience with the Rockyford cantaloupe began in Denver, fifteen 
years ago when one wagon could have delivered the daily consignments 
and my yearly sales did not exceed $500. Since that time I have witnessed 
the growth of the industry and its market developments until the present 
time when my cantaloupe business amounted to $250,000 for the season 
of 1905. 
A story of the early market conditions of the Rockyford cantaloupe 
would be a varied one, telling of irregular cantaloupes, in irregular pack¬ 
ages, coming in irregular consignments to irregular commission men, who 
remitted irregular returns to irregular growers. 
From the beginning of my experience in Denver, the market, at 
some period in nearly every season would be over-crowded with melons. 
The melon is at best a very perishable article and may be in per¬ 
fect condition today, but soft and undesirable tomorrow. When the 
market is over-supplied each subsequent consignment makes more difficult 
the sale of stock already on hand, consequently the price drops, and trans¬ 
portation charges may not be realized. This has been the cause of many 
of the discouraging remittances to growers. 
The recollection of some of the critical experiences of the early melon 
market in Denver is far from pleasant. Often the commission houses 
were overstocked and yet in spite of repeated advices by mail and wire, 
the growers would continue their consignments, although there was lit¬ 
tle hope of even securing transportation charges. 
