The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-15
LESSON OF A LOST CROP"
Melon Growers Urged to Combine for
Mutual Benefit.
From the Charleston News and Courier.

From the Charleston News and Courier.
The Savannah NEWS says that break
in the great western railroad strike this
week would come too late to be of any
benefit to the melon growers of South
west Georgia, and adds that they have
already lost thousands of dollars by rea-
son of inability to reach the western
markets and because Of hundreds Of cars
of melons rotting in the railway yards, or
sold for less than the cost of freight at
points already overstocked.
The trouble seems to be largely due to
poor management. OF course, the melons
that were caught in the yards and on the
way at points that were overstocked
could not be saved But it appears TO us
that the melon growers gave up too
readily. All the melon eaters do not live
in the west and northwest nor along the
railroads leading in those directions.
There are probably ten or fifteen million
people in the south and east who have
been hungering and thirsting for melons
while the farmers in Southwest tern
Georgia were sitting on their
fences mourning over their wasted
crop. If the markets from Augusta,
Georgia, to Augusta, Me, for instance
have been "overstockedn during the past
fortnight, the fact has not been reported.
The Southern Georgia melons are two or
three weeks earlier than the Middle and
Northern Georgia melons, and a consider
able part of the wasted crop could have
been sold in the towns and cities and viii
lagos of Upper Georgia alone, and the
same remark applies to every state be-
tween Georgia and Newfoundland.
The melon growers have su Tered loss
because of a lack of enterprise, because of
putting all their eggs and expectations
into one basket-the western basket. 1t
is easier, of course, for them to sell their
crop in a lump, and in one market, every
year; but the plan has its its disadvan-
tages, as has been proved this season and
before this season. When that market Is
overst ocked or cannot be reached loss is
inevitable. The lesson that has been
learned at so great expense should not be
forgotten.
The melon growers need, it appears, to
organize their business better in their
own interest. An exchange or agency
that would represent all the growers of
Georgia and South Carolina; that would
watch the existing markets and establish
new ones wherever they could be estab-
lished in the cities and larger towns of
the several states; that would divert
shipments en- route from improbable
markets TO profitable markets, and that
could effect larger and safer and more
general distribution of the crop every
year should certainly be of great adyan-
tage to the whole melon growing interest
and should pay the charges of its mainte-
nance and operation many times over.
And perhaps such an exchange or
agency could be organized 70 handle
other perishable crops as well as the
melon crop. 1t is well-known fact that
large quantities Of southern fruits and
vegetables are sold in the northern cities
every season at prices that do not pay
freight charges, or are dumped in the
rivers and bays to get rid of them,
while thousands and hundreds of thou
sands of people in the towns and cities
nearer the sources Of supply either go
without such Injuries and necessities or
have 10 wait until they can be supplied
by their immediate neighbors.
The proper remedy Tor this condition Of
things Is, Of course, for The fruit and veg.