Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-01-21
ELIMINATE
Form Federation Of All Asso-
cations in District
TO MARKET AND
DISTRIBUTE CROP OF 1916
Is the Sense of Resolution Unani-
rnously Adopted at the Meeting of
Cantaloupe Growers Saturday

IuOuSly NuOptSo 81 sAAS A'A~S>'AAb VI
Cantaloupe Growers Saturday
A meeting of the greatest i'm
portance to the cantaloupe grow
ers of this part of the valley was
held at the agricultural room
Saturday afternoon and WAS large
ly attended.
Before the meeting closed a
resolution was passed and a vote
taken, both of which were unani-
nous, which il followed out as it
is believed likely, will mean the
elimination of the middleman or
distributor and the handling of
the cantaloupes at this end by the
growers themselves, with the re-
sui. that the shipping of green
fruit can in great measure be
stopped and a great deal of money
saved and put into the hands of
the growers.
The meeting was called to order
by President West and 0. j. Bax-
ter introduced as the first speaker.
Mr.. Baxter has taken up the mat
ter of federal inspection with the
government and read letter from
one of the district officials to the
effect that, the matter would re-
ceive immediate attention and
that an official would visit Rocky
Ford in the near future for the
purpose of investigating condi-
tions. The speaker quoted from
the laws of California recently
passed and believed that both
state and federal inspection is
what is needed to save the indus
try in this part of the valley. He
believed that the situation had
cotton beyond the control of the
local associations and that unless
some radical changes were made
at once the industry would be
utterly ruined. He was of the
opinion that the inspector should
have absolute authority to turn
down melons that were unripe or
i'll any way unfit to ship SO that
they could not be taken to some
other buyer and sold. The speak.
er did not believe that it was all
the fault of the representative of
the commission men, but that the
growers were partly at fault for
the shipping Of green melons,
which was killing the industry,
and the growers are at fault for
letting the middleman dictate as
to how and when the melons
should be picked. He told OF one
instance the past season where a
middleman had urged grower to
pick his melons but the grower
insisted that they were not ripe
enough and then the middleman
bought the patch Of three acres and
stripped it ill three days when he
knew that there was hardly one
per cent of the melons that would
ever be fit to eat. The speaker
deplored the fact that the piles of
culls that one used to see in all
cantaloupe fields and at the pack
ing sheds were seen no more, all
the melons now being put into the
middle of the crates and shipped.
John Little did not believe that
all the inspectors employed knew
a good melon from Gull and did
not believe that all the melons
that were turned down were really
poor and that many were passed
as kood that were not fit to feed.
He thot that so per cent of the
trouble was with the middlemen
for forcing the growers to pick
green stuff and 20 per cent of the
fault was with the growers for al
lowing the middlemen to put it
ova" him. He believed that some
adjustment could and must be
made at once to save the industry.
IL Wa,briobt said that the