Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1891-09-03
wArERMELoN CULrURE.
MIR. Watson Gives his Experience This
Year. Not Failure.

|
ED1ToR BANNER:-A few days ag
you published an editorial on til
truck growing business, giving
very gloomy account of this year
experience. 1 will ask you to alloy
me space in the BANNER to give m
personal experience in the water
melon business.
This year [ had about six acre
planted in watermelons. Up to dat,
I have received S160.S5 cash, iron
melons. This 1 cannot consider {
complete failure by any means. Las
year 1 did better, selling $1,000 of
II acres. Cotton likewise sold for ;
much better price last year. If
had planted my six acres in cotton
this year and had made half bale
to the acre. I would have received
only about $4,000 gross, at the best
price cotton will bring. 1 can not
tell exactly what the cultivating and
marketing of my melons cost me,
as most of them were planted in my
young orchards and part OF the cost
of cultivating should be charged to
the orchard: but I think it safe to say
that the cost of cultivating and
marketing the melons would not be
any more than the cost of cultivating
and marketing a crop of cotton.
Hence allowing half bale of cotton
to the acre, will leave $4,000 in favor
of the melons. But this is above the
average yield of cotton this year
Cotton in my neighborhood won't
average more than one fourth of q
bale to the acre-giving only about
$50 for six acres. So you see my
melons paid me better than cotton
would have done. 1 know several
members of the Truck Growers As
ISOLATION lost money on melons, but
I believe that if farmers kept an &C
curate account with their cotton crop
many of them would find that they
had lost money growing cotton this
year.
There are two obstacles at pres
emit in the way of success in shipping
melons-excessive railroad freights
and commission merchants. The
railroads must give better rates or
the business cannot succeed, and we
must get better treatment from the
merchants. As a sam
pie of the excessive freights we have
to pay I mention a car load shipped
20 Denver which brought 5000 gross;
We paid S163 freight and $40 to the
man, leaving SIT for the
grower out of which we had to pay
expenses of loading the CAT. 1 be-
ieve these obstacles can be overcome
~ concert of action between the
different melon associations. This
has been an unfavorable year for the
business. July was a very cool
month i'll Colorado and the demand
or melons was not so great as it
would have been had the season
,een warm.
[ don't write this communication
With view of trying to induce par
les to grow melons for shipment
mother season. 1 merely wish to
how that the business was not a |
omplete failure.
Most people expect to make too
much when they try anything else
han cotton. Very truly,
DAVID Il. WATSON.
The BANNER has not tried to dis
ourge watermelon planting at all,
nd knows perhaps as well as some
f the Truck Growers Association
low to raise them and what there is
4 them. The BANNER has merely
zen printing the result of this years
BUSINESS. not to discourage anyone,
'ut as the news. The BANNER made
he argument in the article referred
o that if cotton was a failure one
ear the farmer didn't quit raising it,
nd should not get discouraged
bout the result of this years water
lelon crop because it did not come
p to the expeditions of some of
hem. That it did not turn out as
7ell as was expected, even by the
BANNER whose only interest in it was
D see it succeed, that others might
lore quickly be encouraged to en-
age in truck growing and thereby
iversify the farming interest of
Washington county, is fact here
Omitted by Mr.. Watson, who is not
ne of the ones discouraged as his
experience shows.
Lost Finger.
Thursday afternoon Tom Bishop,
colored employee in the sausage
lctory of Mr.. Fritz Fisher, got his