Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-08-03

1he meeting OF the membership
Of the Rocky Ford Melongrowers
association last Saturday was
failure M far AZ the main object
OF the gathering was concerned.
In his opening remarks Pres.
Swink said that not enough mem
bers were present to act upon the
amendments to the Bylaws. for
which the meeting was mainly
called, and suggested any discus
sion that was for the good Of the
association.
$. s. Bailey suggested tho idea
OF M uniform price for hands dur.
ing the shipping season. say 81
per day aud board. o. j. Baxter
said that men differed in value.
j.. T. Hester said better pay by the
crate, in which John Little con.
Cured. Warren Blinn aud g. W.
Fenlnson thought Mr.. Bailey's
idea imprncticable. No action
WAS taken.
II. ID. Gnrwood was called for
and said that he had charge Of the
Western Poultry & Gnine Co.'s
affairs in tho south and that the
business wns transacted to the sat
'sfaction and profit Of both the
growers aud the company. They
dealt with organizations planned
nfter the associations Of tho Ar
kansas valley. The excellent
quality Of the Texas melons he ut
tributcd to tho unusually dry wcn.
thcr. When the heavy rains came
the quality Of the melons was
greatly injured aud shipments
were suspended Mt most points.
This wns done on the responsible.
ity of himself and Mr.. Hale, Mr..
We,zcl knowing nothin. about il.
After the effects Of the rain had TO
some extent passed oil shipments
wcrc resumed in n small way.
The melons were inferior. Wet.
zcl said he would take few cars
anyway, which he did and lost
money on them. The growers
were fully convinced that their
melons were not marketable and
were completely satisfied that
We,zel had done the right thing
in stopping shipments. The Tex.
ns growers are pleased and want
to contract with the same company
next year. At jacksonville, where
30 acres were TO have been plant
cd. no one party was able to load
n car day. We stuck TO il until
il took three days TO load car aud
then quit. At one point a New
York commission man shipped IL
cars after we quit. The first car
did not bring freight but when
the shipper. learned this 10 other
cars Of the same stuff were on the
way east. At kilgore the melons
would not bear shipment 30 miles
by local freight and We quit. For
my friction there may have been
IN Texas l take the blame for l
~as in charge Of the business. {.
The more l know of the Western
Poultry 4 Game Co. and their
methods of business the more 1
am convinced that they are the
men To handle the cautnloupe
crop. 1 nm confirmed in this be-
lief 10y the opinions and experience
uf others.
In answer to n question Mr..
Garwood said that Wetzel paid
the contract price for every crate.
Another question: Did he try to
jew down on the price? No.
At Henderson one car got soft
before half loaded, and after being
filed the growers themselves be-
came disgusted, unloaded the
crates. took them home and dump
cd to the hogs. The shipments
east aggregated 10 cars. The con-
ditioDs east were never more
promising for good prices than
now. The earlier cantaloupes are
all out of the way and We have
clear field. We paid the Texas
growers 10 and 60 cents for small
and large crates and furnished the
crates.
J. W. Bowman was called for
and corroborated Mr.. Garwood's
statements. The growers want to