Arizona republican., 1906-07-11
MESA MELONS
 BY MILLIONS The Crop Will Be Worth
 $25O,OOO
The Yield and the Price are Surpassing the Most San guine Expectations.

J. D. Loper of Mesa, was in the city all day yesterday experimenting the movement of the canteloupe crop which on account of the unexpected | enormousness of it is getting to be a ! serious matter. The Mesa people, how i ever. are grinning over the seriousness of the situation and are steeling them | selves against the embarrassment of | riches which the crop is going to bring to them.
 The thing which is now causing trouble is the inability of all the local ice factories in the valley to furnish ice for icing the cars. Ice has been ordered by telegraph both from Tue son and from the north. It takes a 1 good deal of ice for this purpose. In l the first place the cars have to be | thoroughly cooled then as much more | ice has to be put in when the melons are loaded.
 l The melon crop is going to be a great deal heavier than the most sangUine | supposed it would be and the prices are fully up to the widest expeeta- tions. l. G. Hanna has received re- | turns from 180 crates sent in one car l load. They brough him net $3 a crate. | The rest of the ear load is said to have done equally as well.
 Some idea may be gathered of the 1 bounteousness of the crop by the com parisOn of it with the crop of COachel- Ia in the Imperial country which has 1 been regarded as one of the banner melon raising regions of the United l States. The melon raiser of CoacheIIa | believed he was doing fairly well if he
 could raise a car load on ten acres. Many melon tract in the vicinity of l Mesa is producing a car load from two
 acres. It is now certain that the crop
 in the neighborhood of Mesa will
 amount to more than 25O carloads.
 The shipments over both roads total . ed last night since July ,, about forty
 five cars. The roads are doing every thing possible for the fostering of the Mesa melon business and they are
 making the concession of sending an
 engine to Mesa after as small ship
 ment as three carloads Rhe melons
 are sent to their destination with the 2 greatest dispatch
 They are sent directly to Chicago
 where they are distributed to New g York and throughout the east, a great many of them being finally sent tc
 Europe, especially to England. Except
 for the Imperial valley melons, the o Mesa product has a clear field and will . have until the latter part of the month n when the famous Rocky Ford melons 1 will enter the market.
 s Some mistakes of the last season |, and which were costly ones will bt . | avoided this year. For instance. al .. the melons shipped will reach the mar. n ket in good shape. Some shipments n last year did not do so. The, 70 were sent out in good condition. bu ,y upon their arrival the melons wer, ! fn hav s- ,, sion house to which the melons hay, ,s been consigned has three experts her, n, who pass upon every crate. The crate l.. are so made that it is possible for tn 3, expert to thumb" each melon Hi ,o educated touch tells him what will b {, the condition when it arrives in Chica
 go. If one melon is found not to pas r. muster, the crate is opened and tn ,t defective melon is removed.
 There are three sizes of crates, tn ,s jumbo, the standard and the pony There is a science in the packing O e them and some of the small boys abou ,., Mesa have quickly developed into ex m pert packers and are commanding tn
 wages of experts In packing, the mel
 ons are taken from a pile of Yariou
 sizes. The eye and the hand mus
 work together rapidly. There is no tim
 for thought or deliberation. The motto
 be sure you are rlSnt, then go ahead, M is worthless in the melon packing busi ' ness. The packer must be right with
 out stopping to make sure of it. Ther
 must be forty-five melons to crat, 1a they must fit it exactly and there mus be no time lost in the fitting.
 It is estimated that the melon cro
 will dump into the Mesa neighborhOo a this year about S25O,OOO and a com - paratively small area has been plante k. to melons That is still a great aIfal is is ia and grain region.
 ,t The melon plantations embrace onl Iv about 400 acres from which it is esti '' mated that the net proceeds will b from s150 to $2O0 per acre for the shor
 season. But out of the net it must b
 understood that there will come tn ;s cost of raising and preparing the mel
 ons for the market but not the cos sa of transportation and sale.
 The business is furnishing work fo
 the entire community, men women an children, so that the prosperity is we H distributed.