Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-08-22

meg or netteQ melons,. L ne usage
melon, developed in southwestern
Michigan; the Rocky Ford, origin
ated in Colorado; and the Montreal
long to the netted or nutmeg type.
Hence. according to the best authori-
ties, the famous Rocky Ford canta-
loaupc" is not a cantaloupe at all, but
a netted or nutmeg melon. This is
one of the cases in which scientific ac-
curacy will have to give way before
universal popular usage.
The originator of the Rocky Ford
cantaloupe was the late Senator G. w.
Swink, one of the pioneers of the Ar
kansas Valley. More than twenty
FIVE years ago he wrote to the United
States Commissioner of Agriculture
requesting seeds OF the best varieties
Of .piuskmelons that could be obtain
ed. The Commissioner of Agricul-
|tt.rc wrote to United States consulsl
in various cities on the Mediterranean
Sea, repeating the request. When the
specimens arrived. a small package
was sent to Mr.. SWink. He planted
the seeds and obtained melons of sew
eral varieties, but discarded all but
the best That was named the Rocky
Ford cantaloupe. 1t appears 10 be a
distinct variety, differing from any
melons grown in Europe. The va
ricty is conceded to be the best
grown in the United States.
That was the beginning of canta-
loupe culture in the Arkansas Valley
of Colorado. In 1887, Mr.. Swink in
vited the employees OF the railroad
shops at La Junta to join with the
people of Rocky Ford Chen little
more than thriving village) in a
melon feast. The next year general
invitation was given to the public to
free feast OF melons. About fifteen
hundred persons attended, and ever
afterward they sang the praises of
the Rocky Ford cantaloupe. Then
fair association was formed, and ever
since that time ambitious exhibits of
agric ultural products have been made.
but Melon Day" is always the big
day of the fair. That the crowds are
large and hungry may be inferred
from the fact that 10000 watermelons
and 10000 cantaloupes are required
each year on Melon Day.
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 Rocky
Ford cantaloupe is simply variety
of the netted melon. and it is none
be grown in New Jersey, Georgia, or
California One large corporation
which grows cantaloupes for the New
York and Boston markets has planta-
tions scattered from the Atlantic sea-
board to the Rocky Mountains. 1t
has plantations in the Carolnas de-
signed to supply very early melons;
and others in Tennessee and Arkan
sas that produce crop that natures
a little later. Still later come the
melons from the corporations farms
in the Rocky Ford district. 1t is,
however, in the Arkansas Valley that
seed is grown for all the company's
farms in the United States. One con-
Germ that makes a specially OF seed
production grows not less than $780,
900 pounds of cantaloupe seed annual
ly. shipping it to all parts of the coun-
try.
From the foregoing it must not be
inferred that the West enjoys a mo-
nopoly of cantaloupe growing. 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 most OF the demand in
the cities of the Mississippi Valley.
and Michigan and neighboring states
ship an aggregate of thousands OF
carloads to Chicago and other cities
of the Great Lakes. However. Meth
er the time of ripening nor the quality
of the melons themselves justifies
shipping them across the continent.
as is done with the melons OF the I'm
perial Valley, or even half way across
the continent. as is the case with the
product OF the Arkansas Valley of
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