Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-28
ASaNv hAZERzEzoM5 EaQnHE Boats

and drives away with his forty or fifty
melons and last the pushcart man, who
peddle their wares about the streets.
There are at least fifty boats engaged
in bringing watermelons into Washington
from the growing grounds. They are
made up Of all types. drawn mostly from
the oyster feet of last winter. Schooners
about sixty feet long predominant. these
being the oyster boats that. cleaned and
prfmed up after the dirty winters work
at oyster dredging. go into the cleanier
trade of watermelon hauling.
The watermelon who thinks himself
safe as he lies in lordly splendor upon his
fertile Hill down in the tidewater country
has got another think coming. Long be-
fore his birth-indeed. even long before
his mother seed was planted in his native
.hill-plots were Matched to work his de-
struction The growers. as soon as the
seeds are in the ground. make contracts
with the Washington merchants for their
crop and drive bargains for the freight
ing with the shippers Of the vessels that
carry them to market. 1t Is not a nap
hazard business by any means.
The earlier melons of the year come
from down on the Atlantic seaboard. be-
ing brought up by sea from South caro-
lima and Georgia and reshipped here from
Norfolk. But those are not the real water
melons of Washington: they are merely
the skirmish line Of the coming advance
One supply that furnishes repast for the
family comes from the banks OF the rivers
and creeks that pour into Chesapeake
bay especially In its lower quarter. ana
from the rich meadows that line the
Eastern Sho" OF Virginia and Maryland.
York river, the Rappahannock, the little
coves and inlets that dent the shores or
Accomac and Northampton counties In
the Old Dominion, with heavy reinforce
ment from the Nanticoke river In Mary
land and all the lowland that faces Tangier
sound just across from the mouth or the
Potomac river Is the district that supplies
he ht,1l< nf n
ingtonians.
-
Along the banks Of these streams are
wharves built out far enough to accom-
modate the vessels, drawing as they do
not more than six feet OF water. The
watermelon farmer has notice ahead that
the vessel with which ne made his con-
tract weeks or perhaps months before
will call on certain day. All the wagon,
for a dozen miles around are pressed
into service on that day by the contract
ing farmers. Every man who isn't too
sick to walk must help. The roads lead
ing to the wharves are dusty with the
wagons toiling down with their loads or
melons fresh plucked that morning. Tne
district Is clean swept or All marketable
melons: there is roistering farewell at
the wharf and the boat moves up the
stream to the next landing place, where
the same scene is enacted.
When the boat Is laden to her mark
she heads up the Potomac river for the
city. bearing her cargo and in many in
stances, especially where the shipment
is large the owner Of the freight as pas
senger. For these farmers often take the
opportunity to combine business and pleas
ure and run up to Washington with their
crop.
The round trip Of watermelon boat
usually consumes about ten days. Two
days are given TO reaching the melon dis
trict about six days are consumed in col
lecting the crop at the various wharves
and two days more In making q way up