282 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



it is this wonderful " nondescript " berry, with its inferior fruit, 

 that yielded best to cultivation and has given us the most of 

 our cultivated varieties, of which the Snyder and Kittatinny 

 are examples. 1 



Besides these there is the so-called " white blackberry" 

 {Rtibtis nigrobaccns var. albinus), an albino variety midway 

 between the main strain and the sativus, with the habits of 

 growth and quality of fruit closely resembling the former, but 

 of especially fine quality. 2 



The melon. Dear to the heart and palate of every boy is 

 the melon. It exists in two well-marked and distinct species, 

 belonging even to different genera : 



i . The muskmelon, or cantaloupe (Cuciimis melo), is certainly 

 native both in Beluchistan and westward, on the coast of Guinea, 

 and in central Africa and eastward. In the wild the fruit varies 

 from the size of a plum to that of a lemon, and is commonly 

 extremely insipid. This generally unpromising character is 

 probably responsible for the fact that the melon was not culti- 

 vated in early times ; indeed, it was not until our own day that 

 really excellent varieties have been established, — all of which 

 goes to show the power of cultivation and selection to work im- 

 provement, and that the wild plant often gives little indication 

 of its hidden possibilities, which quickly appear when once they 

 are unlocked and liberated by generous opportunity. 



1 A few cultivated varieties, like the Wilson and Rathbun, are considered 

 to be hybrids between the blackberry and the dewberry {Rubus villosus). 



2 Burbank is erroneously credited with having " produced" the white black- 

 berry in the sense of having created it. Now the white blackberry is a strain, 

 probably a mutant, that frequently arises, as every woods boy knows, and 

 Mr. Burbank's " production " consists in cultivating one or more of the many 

 thousands of such " sports " produced by this great berry. 



The student should understand that nearly everything has its albino (white) 

 strain, which is altogether likely a mutant from the main stock. Thus we have 

 the white blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, currant, apple, as well as the white 

 rabbit, deer, horse, cow, pig, sheep, and so on, of practically all species. With 

 the sheep, the white is the favorite stock, which was also true of the pig till 

 the opening up of the corn belt and the origin of the Poland China breed, 

 which happens to be black. 



