96 THE WATERMELON 



upon the color or characteristics of the skin or external ap- 

 pearance. These are as follows: — I Light green, II Ale- 

 dium green, III Dark green, IV Light striped, V Dull 

 striped, and VI mottled. These classes are again subdivided 

 into groups according to shape of the fruit. These subclasses 

 or groups I have chosen to call types. Each class is liable to 

 have three types according to the shapes of the fruit ; for 

 example, i round or oval, 2 oblong or medium, and 3, long. 

 To demonstrate : — CLtss IV light striped, has three types, 

 viz., I, Kolb's Gem t\^pe (round or oval), 2, Cuban Qiieen 

 type (medium), and 3, Rattlesnake type (long). The other 

 classes are similarly divided into types, although some of the 

 classes did not have over two types present in our test, and 

 hence are so represented. 



The practice of indicating each type by naming it accord- 

 ing to an already well known variety is thought to at once 

 convey in a general way an idea of the type and its kin. 



Each type is again classified according to the color of its 

 seeds, — being either light or dark. Brown seeded varieties 

 are classed with the dark, while those more predominating 

 in white are grouped with the white. 



It does not necessarily follow that in the proposed classifi- 

 cation the fruit of each variety will all be of the same form to 

 which it is referred ; for, as every melon grower knows, the 

 fruits in each hill vary more or less ; but if everything is nor- 

 mal and favorable for their development the characteristic 

 form or that typifying the variety will predominate. The 

 larger the experience of the grower, the easier it is for him to 

 understand these various types. In considering the shape we 

 do so regardless of size, although it is the marketable, or fruits 

 that have reached a good size, that are considered. In order 

 to get the true type of each variety, it is important that the 

 seeds be secured directly from the seedsmen who first intro- 

 duced them, thus avoiding complications or errors. 



The predominating color of the flesh of tlie watermelon is 

 red or some shade of red ; hence the comparatively few yellow 

 varieties are indicated by an (*) asterisk in their classification 

 or elsewhere. 



