40 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The best sized melon for either home or retail trade in New Hampshire is one 

 weighing from 12 to 25 lbs. 



The varieties believed to be especially desirable for the Nortli, named in order of 

 merit, are as follows: Cole Early, Boss, Black-Eyed Susan, Peerless, Kleekley Sweet, 

 Black Boulder, Black Spanish, Phinney Early, Frontenac, and Hungarian Honey. 



On the basis of the color of the fruit watermelons have been divided into the fol- 

 lowing 6 classes: (1) Light green, (2) medium green, (3) dark green, (4) light 

 striped, (5) dull striped, and (6) mottled. Each of these classes is again subdivided 

 into groups according to the shape of the fruit. These subclasses the author has 

 termed types, and each class of fruit is likely to have 3 types according as the shape 

 of the fruit is (1) round or oval, (2) oblong or medium, and (3) long. The types 

 are also classified as to the color of the seeds, wliether light or dark. The various 

 types are named after the variety of watermelon which is n:iost ])rominent in that 

 type. Fourteen of these type groups are described, and the varieties of water- 

 melons belonging to each noted. The following table will indicate the classification 

 adopted : 



C'lat<sificatio7i of trdtermrhms. 



Muskmelons, J. Cr.mg [Xeic York Cornell Sta. Bui. 200, pj). 159-17G, figs. 12). — 

 This is a popular bulletin giving methods of commercial muskmelon culture observed 

 in New York. The early crop is oI)tained l)y starting the plants in hotl)eds or in 

 the greenhouse. In the field the plants are set 6 ft. apart each way and manured in 

 the hill by forking in either liarnyard manure or a small amount of connnercial fer- 

 tilizers. Sometimes, however, the plants are grown in rows 5 to 7 ft. apart and the 

 hills spaced 2 ft. apart in the row. Clover is the crop commonly used as the ferti- 

 lizing agent in the crop rotation. The packages used in western New York are 12-lb. 

 baskets, bushel baskets, and crates. The 12-lb. basket usually holds 16 melons, 

 while the bushel basket and crate hold from 30 to 45 melons each. An average 

 sized crate is 9 by 11 by 22 in. Brief notes are given on the insects and diseases 

 affecting muskmelons, with suggestions for their control, and brief descriptive notes 

 given on 63 varieties of muskmelons grown at the station in 1901. 



American onions, A. R. Gross {Proc. Soc. Prom. Agr. ,Scl. 1001, pp. 115-132). — 

 Herewith is l)rought together a large amount of scattered information concerning the 

 varieties of onions grown in America. A critical key is given to the garden varieties 

 of Allium ecpa, with a synojisis of a number of the more important varieties. Fifty- 

 six varieties are described. Brief notes are also given on shallots (^1. ascalonicum) 

 and on Welsh onions [A. fishdosum). 



The cooking- quality of peas and beans as related to the commercial ferti- 

 lizers applied to them, K. be Vrieze [Dent. Landir. Prcs.sY', ^'<S' {1901), No. S7, pp. 

 728, 729). — Attention is called to the variation in the ease with which peas and 

 beans grown under different conditions are thoroughly cooked and become soft and 

 the probable cause of this variation is discussed. In conclusion the author states 

 that peas which cook with difliculty are more common than beans of this character. 

 This he explains as due to the fact that as a rule peas are planted earlier than beans 



