Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-08-09
CANTALOUPES ARE
RIPE AND READY
Continued from First Page.

rope. The variety is usually consid-
cred the best grown in this country.
That was the beginning of the can
taloupe culture in the Arkansas val
ley. Ever since 1887 Rocky Ford has
held an annual Melon day, when
free feast of water,nelons and can
taloupes is served to the attending
crowds. Each year 10000 watermel-
ons and an equal number OF canta-
loupes are required.
Rocky Ford people become quite
indignant when the name Rocky
Ford cantaloupe" is applied to mel
ons grown anywhere else than in the
Arkansas Valley. However, the
variety OF melon that originated at
Rocky Ford. Melons of that partic-
ular variety are none the less Rocky
Fords, though they happen to be
grown in New Jersey, Texas or Cal
ffornia. One large corporation that
grows cantaloupes for the New York
and Boston markets has plantations
scattered from the Atlantic seaboard
to the Rocky Mountains. 1t has plan
tations in the Carolinas, designed to
supply early melons, and others in
Tennessee and Arkansas that produce
crops that mature a little later Still
poration's farms in the Rocky Ford
district However, it is in the Arkan-
sas Valley that seed is grown for all
the company's farms in the United
States One concern that makes
speciality of cantaloupe production
grows not less than 10000 pounds of
cantaloupe seed annually, shipping it
to al lparts of the country.
From the beginning it must not be
inferred that the West enjoys a mo-
nopoly OF cantaloupe production. The
states along the Atlantic seaboard
produce enormous quantities for the
great cities of the East. Every state
in the South produces cantaloupes for
local consumption. and for shipment
within limited distance; the Middle
West supplies the demand for all but
early melons in the cities OF the Miss
issippi Valley, and Michigan and
neighboring states ship many hun.
dreds of carloads to Chicago and
other cities of the Great Lakes. How
ever, neither the time of ripening nor
the quality of the melons themselves
justities shipping them across the
continent. as is done with the melons
OF the Imperial Valley, or even half
way across the continent, as is done
with the product of the Arkansas Val
ley OF Colorado. Their melons ripen
when melons can be. had almost any
where, and. though their quality is
good, 1t is not extraordinary. Hence
the melon growers of most parts of
the country must be content with low
prices, and must depend upon close
at-hand markets.
The highest-priced. and presumably
the hnest-tlavored, muskmclou that
reaches the American consumer is the
Montreal melon. 1t is grown only on
the island of Montreal. and exporters
commonly pay 81 each for the mel
ons on the vines. On the menus of
the great hotels and exclusive res
taurants. of New York city "por-
ton OF Montreal melon figures at
so. and each melon is divided into
eight portions. The production of
Montreal melons is very limited. The
largest single shipment ever made
consisted OF six cars. and shipments
are more often made in lots OF a few
crates than by the carload.
The muskmelon belongs to the
genus Cucumis, which includes about
so species, among them being the GU
cumber. Most of these species are of
African and East Indian origin.
About four hundred years ago seeds
OF variety OF melon unknown in
Western Europe were taken from Ar
menia to Rome. and were planted at
Cantaluppi, country seat of the
Pope. As the years passed melons OF
this variety became widely distributed
throughout Europe, and everywhere
we're known by the name OF the
Pope's country residence which sur
wives with little change in our word.
"cantaloupe."