44 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAE SOCIETY. 



that the same variety has strains of different vahies, and also 

 the type is not always constant. For instance, we found 

 among our melons grown from seed from the same source 

 a considerable variation in certain characters, especially shape, 

 and even in color, since both green and salmon fleshed mel- 

 ons were present in the same varieties. These differences may 

 be due to mixture of the seed, or lack of fixity in the charac- 

 ters of the particular variety. 



The two remaining factors that have an influence on our 

 melon industry are much more difficult ones to regulate than 

 the preceding, and may be considered briefly under the head- 

 ings, — weather, and fungous and insect enemies. A cold, wet 

 spring and summer and early fall frosts are very considerable 

 factors in making a poor crop. Of course we cannot regu- 

 late the weather, but by selection of certain varieties we can 

 usually escape much of the injury from early fall frosts. The 

 varieties grown should be ones in which most of the melons 

 are out of the way by the first of September. Late maturity 

 is one of the objections against the Rocky Ford melon here, 

 though this, no doubt, could be largely overcome by selecting 

 earlier maturing strains. I have heard of one market grow- 

 er who had melons up into October by covering the vines with 

 straw during the nights. As I said before, the selection of a 

 warm, dry soil with the greatest exposure to the sunlight may 

 help in this matter, as will thorough cultivation. 



In considering the enemies of the musk melon, mention 

 must be made of the green louse and striped cucumber beetle 

 among the insects, and of the bacterial wilt, leaf mold, and 

 the downy mildew, among the fungi. Of all these, the last 

 is by far the most serious in this State, and together with un- 

 favorable weather conditions, constitutes the chief obstacle to 

 successful melon culture. In fact, these two factors of weath- 

 er and blight are so intimately bound together that the most 

 unfavorable season for melons as regards the weather is the 

 one in which the blight also does its greatest damage. For 

 seven years the writer has been carying on spraying experi- 

 ments against the blight. Taken altogether, the results of 

 these experiments have not been very favorable for advocat- 



