The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1926-09-03
LOOKS LIKE A FORTUNE
FOR CURRITUCKIANS
Fancy Honey Dew Melons, Worth Their
Weight in Money, Thrive Like Gourds in
Currituck and on Roanoke Island
By w. O. SAUNDERS

DL We
1t has remained for Alex
ander Owens, a merchant and
farmer down on the tail end of
Currituck County to make a
discovery that may bring hum
dreds Of thousands of dollars
to truck gardeners on the light
sandy lands of lower Currituck
and Roanoke Island.
For years the cities of the Allan
tic seaboard have been importing
hundreds Of car loads Of wonder
full honey dew melons from the I'm ;
perial Valley of California. They
are shipped I'm refrigerator cars
/ from the Pacific coast and retail
here In the East at 80 cents to
$100 piece. A quarter Of honey
dew melon at the Monticello Hotel
I'm Norfolk will cost you 60 cents;
it would be Is cents at the Belvi-
dere In Baltimore, the Willard or
the Mayflower in Washington. or
the Haldorf-Astoria In New York.
And this man Alexander Owens,
small farmer down on the tail
end of almost nowhere; at the very
jumping off place Of that sandy
Currituck peninsula, 40 miles from
Elizabeth City, has discovered and
demonstrated that honey dew melons
az big. as lucious and in every way
AZ fine as the finest California pro-
duct viii thrive like gourds on our
light coastal plain soils.
Let the First Ones Rot
Mr.. Owens bought % cent pack
ct OF honey melon seed from the
Buxton White Seed Co. of Eliz-
azeth City and planted them for
novelty. He thought it was new
kind Of cantelOupe. The % cent
packet Of seed planted about 200
hills. Luxurious vines came up and
they bore much fruit. Mr.. Owens
waited for the fruit to ripen. When
! it. ripened 1t had rotted in the
field. He lost the first fruitage OF
his vines by not knowing when TO
mil the fruit. He made the mis-
fake Of waiting for the melons TO
look and smell like canteloupe
They look end smell more like
courd and should be pulled before
they are ripe. They ripen in the
dark and keep like watermelons'
But Mr.. Owens didn't know that.
He lost a lot Of his melons before
! he discovered by accident that they
should be pulled when they began
to turn a light lemon yellow.
! But when he did find out What
he had and began to Introduce them
TO his neighbours and to tourists
who passed his door, he found
ready sale for them. He DIDN'T
know the fancy prices charged tof
Them elsewhere and he sold them at
10 cents apiece; but from his 2oo
hills of honey dew melons he made
more money than he made from
1000 hills Of watermelons, he told
me this week. He got 500 melons
from his 200 hills. Some of those
melons weighed as much as 10 lbs.
each.
showed one Of Mr.. Owens
melons to a former resident of Cali
fornia who was familiar with the
melons grown in that country ana
very fond of them. He ate it ana
the Californian assured me that ms
bad never eaten finer honey dew
melcn In California. l never tast-
oil better anywhere myself.
Thought They Were Gourds
began to make inquiries about
the honey dew melon. ] find others
lhave planted them and cultivated
them Just ike canteloupes and got
Ian enormous yield. But they didn't
iknow what they had. One man
brought load to Elizabeth City.
Elizabeth City folks didn't know
what they were and wouldn't buy
Them. He threw them overheard
in disgust.
Russell Griggs, at Waterlily on
Church Island Currituck County,
tried the seed one year and declar'
ed that he got the finest crop OF
squash he had ever seen. He fed
them TO his hogs. He waited for
them to get ripe like canteloupes
and they rotted in the field. He
never knew that he had gold mine.
A. W. Drinkwater, the fig wizard
of Roanoke Island, planted honey
dew melon seed two years ago and
got a wonderful crop. And Drink
water, the wise bird that he is IN
most things, thought he had a crop
Of round gourds. He bawled out the
Manteo merchant who sold him
gourd seed and let the melons rot
! in his garden. A few weeks later
he was In New York and friend
with whom he dined ordered honey
dew melon for dessert. Drinkwater
was interested. He looked at the
piece of melon for which his frifE
fContinnc.i y n.s ThEec