The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-21
snwHo SAY wArAHMILL1oNs?"
The Growers Around Savannah and
their Crops.

me Growers around Savannah and
their Crops.
The city is full Of Watermelons and while
the daily shipments along the railroads are
detailed every morning in telegraphed re-
ports to the MORNING NEWS the melon,
raisers Of Chatham county want the people
TO understand that they are in the melon
business themselves.
The Chatham county melon growers do
not plant the big, round striped melon
because theT say that while it attains a
large growth it has, to use the words of
Sam DotsOn, "a big white core in it as thick
as your arm" The Crawford variety is
principally planted in this county. 1t is
longer melon than the up-country melon,
sweeter and with a thinner rind.
The melOus raised in this county are prin-
cipally grown for the local Market and
while q number of island melons are
brought to market in fishing soopS, by far
the greater part of the fruit is raised on the
Augusta road around Monteith, a small
town of about 100 population, on the
Charleston and Savannah railway, fourteen
miles from the city. That section may be
called the melon belt Of Chatham county
as about 400 acres were planted IN melons
this season.
The largest melon grower in this section
Is Paul Kellar, who has a crop OF 20 acres.
be boats his melons to Savannah. Adam
and Lamar Keilar have 20 acres, Dan Zip
perez has 20, lack Zipperer Is, Angus and
John DotSOn 10 acres each, Joseph Helmey
acres and Samuel Dotson and w. P. Box
3 acres each, total of l23 acres. There are
smaller patches on the Augusta road which
in the aggregate will run the melon acreage
of that section up to about 400 acres. The
Monteith melon has the reputation of being
the most delicious to the taste of any melon
grown in Georgia.
A MORNING NEWS reporter had the good
luck to corner the Dotson brothers, Samuel,
Angus and John, at Hart Bros store yes
terday, where melons we're all the talk, and
the DotsonS are away up in all that pertains
to melon raising.
In the running conversation it was
learned that while the season has been a
fairly good one for melons, the long
drought in May and the first half of June
materially injured the crop, which would
have been phenomenally large one had
there bsen occasional showers during the
period mentioned. AS it is there is an aver
age Of only two good melons to the vine.
when In seasons where there is neither
extremes OF wet or dry weather the average
Is three marketable melons to the vine. As
there are $50 vines to the acre, this would
make the average yield of an acre this year
800 melons. So that on this basis the melon
OuCPub Al Lue MOULel59 SeCUlOn LllS year
may be set down at 800, 900 melons.
The melon season this year opened June
TO- ten days later than last year. All the
products of the truck gardens and farms in
this county being from week to ten days
later this year than last owing to cold
and continuous rains in the spring.
The season will last to about Aug. /,
although there are few melons during the
month Of August, but always inferior, and
prudent people do not eat melons after Aug.
Is IN this latitude, except what is known as
slip melons, OF, to be more explicit, melons
grown IN slip or cane patches, which are
said to be far superior to melons grown in
land devoted only to melon raising These
are planted between June l and July Is
Many will not understand what is meant
by ''slip PATCH" and for that class Of
readers it may be we'll to explain that a
slip patch is sweet potato patch, the vines
of which have been pruned the slips re-
set, making the late sweet potato crop, and
melons planted among the slip vines appear
to thrive better than IN the open melon
patch, and the meat Is juicier and more de-
licious.
The Dotson brothers say that the sweet
potato crop this year will be the largest
ever raised in Georgia. The season has
been most favorable, and Angus Dotson
says he will get 800 bushels to the acre from
his patch.