La Junta tribune., 1899-08-09
nELoa GROWERS MEET.
Conclude the Details for the Season
NJ. Wstxei In Attsadsaes.

last SATURDAY aIternoon 10 COM
plete the details for marketing this
seasons crop. Nat Wetzel, Of
St. Louis, the contractor for the
crop, was present and addressed
the meeting. He said that he
considered the outlook very prom
ising. Nothing but the elements
could prevent the melon crop from
being winner this year. Mr..
Wetzel arrived from ST. Louis
about ten days ago with an Office
force OF twenty men. He has es-
tablished headquarters at Rocky
Ford and is ready TO do business.
An account will be opened in a
new set OF books with every melon
grower in the valley who is mem
ber OF an association, and under
the system he has adopted it will
be impossible to make mistake.
He uses coupon book issued in
triplicate. The grower receives
the first coupon and his so cents
per crate upon delivery OF the
melons. The second is retained
by the association and the third by
Mr.. Wetzel. Upon each coupon
is recorded the date, the number
OF crates received and the number
OF the car in which they were
shipped. When a car OF melons
is sold IN the east, the number OF
the car and the price per crate re-
allied will be Immediately teie-
graphed to the headquarters at
! Rocky Ford. From there the in
formation will be sent to the asso-
citation interested and bulletined
on a blackboard, so that each
grower will know within few
days just how much his melons
sold for.
MIR. Wetzel urged the members
to use their best endeavors to get
every grower in the valley into the
associations. Harmony was abb
solutely essential for success. He
had perfected his system Of mar
keting by experience and thought
he could assure the best results.
Competitors will offer fancy prices
for melons in order to disrupt the
association, and he urged upon the
growers the necessity of sticking
together like leeches. He has
leased all the available Wells
Fargo refrigerator express cars,
and will have an inspector stationed
at Coolidge, Argentine and Streat-
or, Illinois, to inspect cars en- route
and report, and will give competi-
tors a hard tussle to beat him out.
l. D. Hale, OF Rocky Ford, who
has heen in the employ of Wetzel
in Texas this season, also ad-
dressed the association, relating
his experience there. Heavy rains
had proved disastrous to the crop
in Texas, but the growers were
perfectly satisfied with the results
obtained through Wetzel. Mr..
Hale considers the prospects ex-
cellent in the Arkansas Valley, but
does not think the crop will be
more than fifty per cent of what it
was last year. He said that some
OF the cantaloupe patches in North
La Junta were the finest he had
ever seen anywhere.
The association then proceeded
to business and unanimously elect
ed D. w. Doty as chief inspector.
They also elected F. D. Wood, c.
L. Seeley and E. D. Ferrell ~ .
grievance committee, and E. J..
Lewis, 6. A. Kilgore and A. R.
Eaton as IN auditing committee.
Three kinds Of crates will be
used and instead Of the association
contracting for m indefinite num-
ber for the season James MeNeen
has offered 10 furnish them to in
dividuals in any number desired at
~ cents per crate. The La jan