The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-10-21
MUCH MONEY IN MELONS
Immense Profit to Southern Farmers
in Raising the Juicy Oyals
Oklawaha. Fla. Oct. Is. 1913.


Oklawaha. Fla. Oct. 16. 1913.
Editor Star: Florida doesn't care
who raises the cotton required for
clothes with the present skinny
fashions il She can just raise water
melons Tor the country north o. Us.
The last watermelon season brought
into one county in Georgia the good
~ sum OF $10o.000. all foreign mon
ey, and I am informed that Marion
county Florida has nearly as good
record from her last crop.
There is quite a difference in
farmer raising something and sell
ing ii TO his next door neighbOr and
selling il TO a stranger in New York,
Chicago or Pittsburg; the first is
taking money out OF one local peck
Ct and putting it in another; the lat
ter is getting new money into local
pockets.
In the past the watermelon has
joke in Georgia, an agricultural fri
volity, compared with the good old
reliable staples cotton and corn.
From henceforth il is certain that
any Well-arranged horn of plenty in
o , sister state will have 30-pound
watermelon posed conspicuously in
the foreground.
One hundred thousand dollars,
That is 81 per capita for every man,
woman and child in Marion county,
/ only it would not be evenly distrib-
uted, according TO our sociaIisLiC
/ dream. This vast sum went into
! the hands OF the farmers. And there
are still any number of $50 month
| clerks dragging out m0nOtonous
lives in our cities whose minds are
( 50 lar behind the times they viii
laugh al he hayseei joke and think
the farmer d "Rube." which is yer.
/ pathetic.
The man who is selling clothing i
! not in il with the man who is sell
| ling something to eat. for it is a self
| evident fact that people are wearing
! less and eating more than they used
/ to. The time IS COmins when no viz
! tuOus farmer viii rail at scant attire
! and eXtraVagant restaurant habits.
! He has got a system now where he
! can see the dollar Winging its way
! back from the restaurant to the
! farm. Time was when the dollar
stopped on the way and the farmer
did not get much Of it, but that is
! past and tears have been running
| from the eyes OF Marion county far
mers because they knew there were
! places where melons would have
sold for fifty cents apiece this past
spring and there were not enough
melons. They should resolve that
there will be a melon grown next
season for every little f1ighty fifty
cent piece in New York. Chicago and
! Pittsburg, and other centers Of the
high cost Of living.
Supplying watermelons to the
hordes OF our citizens who come
from foreign parts and never saw a
melon on the vine. has been reduced
| to system. Formerly the people
| were there and the melons were
here, but the problem of getting the
melons TO where they would be d
luxury at a Fourth of July picnic
had not been properly solved. Now
a flock OF nice young men in white
clothes and white shoes put up at
our hotels every melon season
They are melon buyers. and they
know just where melons are mos
needed. The farmers have quit rails
ing the famous Kolb Gem or Col
jim" as the darkies call it, 1t was 3
fearful fruit with a very thick rind
warranted to stand any amount o.
hard usage in shipping. The sellin2
of it depended on those market:
where a real watermelon had never
been seen.
The Watson melon which ship:
we'll and has a good shape and flavor
! has replaced the kolb and the in
creased demand for watermelons /
due 10 the pleasure the northern
palate is deriving from this bette
j fruit We are sending.
To return TO the 100000. as VIII
indeed would forget it, doesn't
look is if this same agricultural fri
vol. the melon. had old man Dol
weavel on his back in that Georgi
county referred to. and begging 70
a bite to eat? Why should farme
anywhere raise lot Of cotton 0
! anything else, for devastating no
, account bug of any sort TO destroy
The Marion county farmers had