98 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



variety I have ever seen, but the difficulty is tliat it grows too hirge and 

 in order to ship it you would have to use Jumbo crates. 



And that brings me to the matter of packages. ^Mieuever you have 

 a good fruit, a large share of the looks of it is detracted w^hen it is put 

 up in poor packages. So the question of packages is one of importance. 

 When you have nice melons, you are certainly out of date with a bunty 

 crate. Get the Rockyford crate. That has three slats, 2 in. wide and 14 

 of an inch thick. Do not get it so thick that it will not bulge and thus 

 save your melons from getting bruised in transit. The crates should be 

 stripped when making shipment, i. e., jmt slats in between the tiers. 

 I advise my friends at Benton Harbor that if you want sojne- 

 thing nice take uj) this melon business and produce some first 

 class fruit and get it on to a good market and you will find it a very 

 pleasant and profitable employment. Just now the trade is going to 

 the red flesh colored melon in cantalouji-es and I would advise you to 

 get in line. There are several varieties of these. I have given to tlie 

 public three of them myself. The Osage Gem. Ordway, and Petoskey 

 are all right. The latter bears my name but I did not give it the name 

 myself — -Vaughn did it. However, it does not stand up so well as some 

 others and is not so good for long distance shipments although it is all 

 right for short hauls. Cincinnati is a splendid market for melons. 

 They are bare of stufl' when you W'ant to ship your melons. Do not 

 dump everything on Chicago. 



I like the Hoodoo melon because it is good. I brought that out. I find 

 that this is the best variety for us up in the north land. I was amused 

 last summer to see on the markets this melon under the new name of 

 Hearts of Gold. That is a better name than Hoodoo but I want to tell 

 you that it almost hoodooed itself before it was gotten where it amounted 

 to anything. I lost nearly all of the seed and I thought for a time that 

 it would not amount to anything. 



I don't know" but what I have given you enough pointere on raising 

 cantaloui:>es an'd don't think that I had better say anymore and so if there 

 are any questions that you would like to ask I will be pleased to answer 

 them to the best of my ability. 



DISCUSSION. 



A Member — T would like to know what size you make your crates. 



Mr. Rose— 11x12 and 11x12x24. 



Q. The last melon you mentioned — tell us a little more about it. 



Mr. Rose — I suppose you refer to the floodoo. Well that is rust proof 

 in name as well as nature. We have no name for the melon as yet and 

 don't know whether we will change it or not. As I said it is a good 

 melon for northern growth as it is hardy and very productive. 



Q. Do you raise rye in the place of vetch in your melons? We sow 

 vetch and think very w'ell of it. 



Mr. Rose— I tried vetch. Tt would not get in until after the melon 

 crop was off and 1 could not get sufficient growth of it to plow under 

 so that the plant could take hold of it. What ever you put into the soil, 

 you want it to be in such a shape that the plant can get hold of it and 

 it must be in a soluble form. If the vetch grows at all it is so woody 

 that the crop will not get it. As I said, we tried these vetches but 

 found it was not any good for us. 



Q. Where can the seed of the Rose Gem be secured ? 



