Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-08-03

ycdl, utlOuS nave Dceu ldUupu III New
York on Christmas day; but no one
cares for them then
'On the 18th Of May, this year, our
assistant superintendent, A. A. Aveilhe.
left his office in Savannah and estab-
lished his summer headquarters in
He was there in instant
Geographic communication with Val
dOSta, Quitman, Boston and all the
other towns in which the melon in
dustry centers. Mr.. Alveilhe immedi-
ately issued his usual instructions to all
station agents on the line in that part
OF Georgia, requiring them to post all
dispatches relating to the melon bust
ness as soon as received, to forward
melon cars in advance Of all other
freight, and to keep him constantly in
formed by wire of the state of affairs
in his neighbOrhoOd.
AT the same time orders were sent
from headquarters to our agents in
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Balti-
more, Chicago, st. Louis, and a dozen
other cities, to give the Thomasville
office daily advice by telegraph as to
the ruling prices of lemons, the num-
Der Of arrivals, the state of the mar
ket, and the state of the weather.
These things are all of great import
ance to the grower; and as fast as
the advices are received in Thomas
vile they are telegraphed to every
station on the line, and the agent is
required to post all the dispatches in
conspicuous places.
You will easily see the benefit of
this. Many Of the small villages in
southern Georgia are no more than
settlements, although the smallest set
tlement may be an important water
melon-shipping point. They are asleep
through half the year, and little news
reaches them. But when the melon
season opens they begin to brighten
up. After the days work in the fields
the neighboring truckers drive into
town, and the railway station becomes
the center Of animation There they
find news, often only a few minutes
old, from all the big watermelon mar
kets of the country. If the reports say
that New York is glutted they ship
next day to Chicago or some other
point. They get not only news, but
advice, which, Of course, they are at
liberty to follow or not.
by this system the most remote
melon grower in Georgia knows every
evening what is the state Of the mar
kets all over the country. Every sta
ton, down to the very smallest, is
kept constantly supplied with plenty
Of empty cars, so that melons need
never be delayed. After the cars are
loaded, the first train takes them to
Savannah in from four to ten hours,
according to the shipping point, and
the melons go Immediately into the
hold Of one OF the Savannah steamers,
which bring them to New York in thir-
ty-six hours or less, so that from the
most distant fields of Georgia the mel
Ons are in New York within forty
eight hours of their picking. Some
come from Savannah by rail, which is
a little faster, but little more ex-
pensive.
This Is the systematic state to
which we reduced our part of the
business some years ago. But with
all this care we found that there was
not yet much money in shipping early
melons, and that there still remained
for the growers to do. They
were sending north the very finest
watermelOns raised in the world. Such
as they ate themselves-and even the
negroes in Georgia will not touch any
but the very best melons-they shipped
to us, and the results were unhappy.
Not but that New Workers are glad to
buy the best melons Obtainable, but
the finest melons have very thin rfnds,
some Of them so thin that there is
scarcely any white part at all, the
red meat pushing up close to the green
shell; and these fine melons, with thin
rinds are the most difficult melons to
ship. They break easily, decay quick
ly, and soon lose their flavor. It was
evident that what was needed was for
the growers to improve the quality of
their melons, not to produce better
melons, for that would have been i'm
possible, but to produce melons that
would better bear the shipment; in
other words, to raise melons with
thicker rinds and stronger bodies.
THE growers We're not as enter
prising and progressive then as they
are now, because they had not the fl
nancial stimulus. SO it was necessary
to give them some help, and we looked
about for a melon that would answer
the requirements for shipment. We
found it in the variety called the
'Kolb's GEN. and introduced it. 1t
was exactly what they and we needed.
This I\olbis Gem watermelon is
the variety now most familiar in
New York, with a thick, strong rind
and a sweet, red interior Its most
distinguishing marks are it's compare
tive roundnesS and the alternating
dark and light green streaks with
which it is striped. Ten years ago
these striped melons were almost I'M
known in New York, and now it is
hard to find any other kind. 1t was
produced by the mingling of two or
more other varieties, but it is i'm
possible now to say what those vari-
cites were. Whatever they were, the
Kolb'S Gem has become the standard
market melon of the country. 1t is
by no means the best watermelon
raised; indeed, it is not even one of
the best; but it is the very best to
stand long shipment, and it answers
all the requirements SO well that even
the Long Island and New Jersey truck