grown by the Mennonite farmers of 

 southern Manitoba, Canada. 



The object of the experiment was 

 to combine the quality of Honey 

 Rock with the earliness of the Men- 

 nonite variety. Selection and self- 

 pollination for a period of six years 

 finally resulted in the Granite State 

 muskmelon, which was introduced in 

 1946. 



The melons are of medium-size 

 with firm, well-netted rinds and 

 thick, bright-orange flesh. The fruit 

 is produced in abundance and in 

 Durham where ordinary varieties are 

 usually flat in taste, the quality of 

 Granite State melons has been ex- 

 cellent. The leaves of this variety 

 are not as quickly destroyed by mil- 

 dew as most others produced in this 

 area. 



OTHER MUSKMELON BREEDING 



When the plants are small, ordi- 

 nary muskmelons produce a great 

 number of male blossoms; female 

 blossoms are produced and fruit is 

 set only after they have reached a 

 considerable size. An introduction 

 from India by the Office of Foreign 

 Seed Plant Introduction (Washing- 

 ton, D.C.) which came to us under 

 the designation 236-B has all its 



flowers perfect, that is, they contain 

 both pistals and stamens. 



When this variety was received, 

 it was thought that it might be possi- 

 ble to combine its perfect flowering 

 habit (which results in an earlier set 

 of fruit) and the high quality of 

 some of our named American varie- 

 ties in a single plant. Crosses were 

 made between it and Granite State, 

 and perfect-flowered selections were 

 made in the second generation 

 grown in the greenhouse. None 

 proved to be entirely satisfactory as 

 a variety to introduce; hence, a sec- 

 ond back-cross was made with Gran- 

 ite State and again selections were 

 made for high quality and perfect 

 flowering. While no introductions 

 have been made to date, a consider- 

 able number of selections have been 

 made with thick, orange-fleshed, oval 

 fruits, rather small in size, but high 

 in quality and very early in matur- 

 ing. Undoubtedly, a variety will be 

 introduced from these in the near 

 future, but some further selection 

 and purification is required before 

 this is accomplished. 



In the spring of 1948 crosses were 

 made between Granite State and the 

 Korean Siveet melon, introduced by 

 E. M. Meader. The Fj was grown in 

 the field in 1948. It was perfectly 



A truckload of Colebrook 

 watermelons. 



12 



