Show tvvr v arrrrryrsrsrr iI DESERT CORN FOR MELONS I More Money Made from Juicy Fruit Say Oklahoma Farmers Lawton OkThe greatest watermelon water-melon shipping station of the southwest south-west Is Cement Ok a small town on the Frisco railroad 30 miles cast of Lawton The shipping of this seasons sea-sons crop began two weeks ago and to date 120 cars have been shipped to Kansas City St Louis and Denver Before tho season closes more than 500 cars will have been shipped In a radius of a few miles of Cement there aro 700 acres planted in melons this year The average production to tho acre is 500 melons or about half a car load The melons placed on the track at Cement bring the producers an aver ago of 50 per acre At this rate there will bo shipped from that point this year 350000 melons that will place In the pockots of the producers 35000 Recently there was a scarcity of cars and during tho few days intervening inter-vening between the last shipment and the arrival of moro cars 20000 melons or 20 car loads were piled along tho lJYCIY I1IC 1Yr1 + CllOAOr track on the ground No such a sight I was ever before seen In the southwest country No train of 20 cars containing contain-ing watermelons alone was ever before be-fore pulled out of Oklahoma The Alabama sweet variety has been adopted by the melon farmers This Is a long striped melon of yellow and lead colors Tho production this year will be double that of last year and the acreage acre-age Is In the same ratio The quality of melon Is also better and the demand de-mand has been greater E C Lutes a lessee of some Indian allotments In the Indian pasture south of hero this year hat cultivated 200 acres of melons the seeds from which ho Is selling to a Kansas City seed house for 12 cents per pound The Julco Is being manufactured into a syrup by a new process His crop Is unusually fine and ho has found that moro money can be realized from the growing of melons than from any other branch of farming |