The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-08-14
Melons by the Carload.

Watermelons by the wagon load, wa
termelons by the carload-yes, water
melons by the ship load in such quanti-
ties is the succulont fruit being devoured
by thirsty and hungry New Workers.
Next week will mark the height of the
watermelon season for the metropolis,
for after then the enormous shipments
from the South will begin to dwindle.
We will have watermel0ns in plenty for
weeks. however, for the Virginia crop
has Just begun to arrive and that Of New
Jersey and Long Island has not yet come
into the market in large quantities.
There's no way to tell with certainty
how many melons New Workers consume
in day. Just now the fruit is being
shipped here by the thousand, and hun
dreds of thousands have been handled on
the West street wharfs during the past
few weeks. One morning last week there
were over 100000 melons on one wharf
alone. Before night every one had been
carted away, and other thousands were
put in their places before the next day.
One steamer from the South came in
literally "loaded up to the muzzle" with
watermelons few days ago. Besides
the rest of her cargo she carried $1,000
melons. A few days before that boat ar
same line brought in nearly $4,000 water
melons. Many OF these were spoiled in
transit and the man to whom they were
consigned refused to receive them; The
steamship company promptly sold the
whole lot at auction, and for one day you
could buy Watermelons for few cents
on almost any street on the east side.
The board of health woke up after the
cargo had been well distributed, and
chased the speculating venders off the
streets with their soggy, decayed fruit.
Inspectors from the board Of health now
watch every cargo of melons that arrives
to prevent any more auctions ofspotted
fruit.
Not for years have the Southern water
melons been as tasteless as they were
this year. Dealers say that the inferior
quality is due to the severe frosts that
played havoc all through the South early
in the summer. The frost caught the
melons when they were little more than
half grown, and the sudden hot season
that followed the cold spell ripened them
prematurely. Strawberries from the
South suffered in the same way. While
the Georgia melons, usually the best in
the market, were ofa dangerously inferior
quality this year, the California fruit was
never more luscious.
Captains of Southern steamships say
they never saw Carolina vines so prolific,
either, as they were this year. Thousands
and thousands Of melons decayed in the
fields because there was not sufficient
means at hand to transport them to mar
ket. Other thousands rotted on piers,
because ships could not be had to get the
fruit to the Northern market
Watermelons have to be handled diff
ferently from most other fruits. Bananas,
Strawberries, pears, apples and other
fruits are picked green and allowed to
ripen on the way North or even after
they reach here, but watermelons must
be ripe when packed. Ifgathered green,
they rot instead of ripening. Thatis why
watermelons have to be hustled North,
and that is why most of the watermelons
that come from the South are shipped by
rail. tits more expensive, but also more
profitable.
One ordinary freight car contains from
900 to 1900 melons. Some nights, when
the shipments are heavy, as many as 100
carloads are handled at one wharf in
West street. For weeks from fifty to
sixty cars of melons have been unloaded
every night.
Sold son the DOCK" as the jobbers say,
melons bring from nine cents to twenty
cents each, though these figures are asked
for lots Of 100. At the restaurants one
has to pay from ten cents to twenty-five
cents slice, regardless of the price "on
the dock" A good melon may be bought
at retail, however, from twenty to TWEEN
ty-ive cents.
Stacked up on the railroad wharves
along West street the watermelons pre-
sent fine sight these mornings. It's al
most worth ones while to take a trip
down there to see them. They are count
ed as unloaded from the railroad car, and
then piled high as mans head, or higher,
under the shed. The piles extend along
both sides of the wharf for several hum
dred feet, and 100000 takes up an aston
ishingly small space. The cars are un-
loaded at night mostly. The buyers be-
gin to carry them away by the wagon
load at daylight, and from then until
nearly noon long trains Of trucks, each
loaded with from 100 to 1000 melons,
are streaming out of the railroad shcd to
scatter the juicy fruit to all parts of the
city and Brooklyn.