Imperial Valley press., 1917-03-28
MELON CROP FOR
1917 ANALyzEO
BY EXPERTS
Declares 1917 Crop Is Big
gest Gamble-LOOks for
Some JOlts to Come.


does it mean 5000?
The Imperial Valley cantalcup, de-
promises to have plenty of snap to
it this year. With the recent frosts
setting the opening date back by
possibly 10 days, or even two weeks
at least holding back the steady move.
ment by that much time-and with
the prospective reduction of acreage
and yield by at least Is PEI cent
those in the deal will have plenty to
do from now on to keep them on the
jump. Looking over the list Of dis
tributers; figuring the operating costs
of the various firms and orsaniza-
tions; the average advance; the aver
age cost loaded in the car; average
cost delivered-and other costs--one
things stands out plain-there will
be plenty of competition all along the
line. Perhaps some grief, says the
New York Produce News.
The 1917 cantaloupe game looks
like it is bigger gamble than ever
before. 1t may be that some one will
get pretty hard jolt before the fin
ish. There is more reaEmoney tied
up than ever before, the advance is
the largest on record, the market out
look may or may not grow better as
the shipping season advances-if
there are any losses they will fall, as
usual, on the distributors. There is
g certain fascination about the Impe-
rial Valley cantaloupe DEAL,
Closely analyzed, the 1917 Union
contract-which was put over by the
Japanese Farmers Associations
about as ironclad as could be drawn.
On the face of it, the distributor gets
Is per cent commission and starts off
with guarantee of 70 cents for
standards-at least the average dis
tributor thinks he does. What he will
think after the season is over is an
other story. He is in for little more
thinking, if the figures given below
are doped out right. And he may yet
take off his hat to the Japanese at
torney who has been able to organize
his fellow countrymen to such goo,!
advantage, both for them and for their
organization.
Here is fair sample-a distributor
With, say, 100 acres signed up. The
figures will hold out for 100, or even
1000 acres-the more man has, the
more his responsibility. The first
move on the checkerboard was the
cash for rent and other incidentals-
ranging from $40 up to $40 an acre.
Take SIS an acre for an ACREAGE
$500 invested to start with-regard-
less of results from frosts or other
providential causes-which includes
railroad strikes, wars and so on. The
average grower handles 40 acres-but
many only 35 and others even less =
but 40 acres is put down as u fair
average. He makes his first draw on
that basis. When the seaS.'r is well
along, the wise distributor will cas-
ually check up the acreaE, closely.
There are cases where it later turned
out that the actual acreag' grown
showed a shrinkage of 10 pc: cent or
more.
But bring the crop up to the time
of shipping. Then there must be some
Quick and accurate figuring. A dis
tributer with anything like fairly
large acreage must keep man on
the ground by the year-an item o.
say $4,000 at the start, which is
fixed overhead. Then, the principal
who furnished the coin must make
two or three trips during the year to
see if the situation looks good, an
other $500 at the lowest. Take the
interest on the advance at Z per cent
and on other moneys invested-S2o
600 for anything like fair-sized deal
IcoNT7NU1D ON PAoD THknEl