ON SOME COMMON GARDEN PLANTS 



melons Some varieties of these so-called snake 

 cucumbers attain a length of three or four feet, 

 and coil up in such a way as to resemble a serpent, 

 justifying their name. 



A form of melon introduced, I believe, from 

 Syria, and known as the Santa Glaus melon has 

 interest because it keeps well until mid-winter. It 

 is a longish oval muskmelon, with red and green 

 stripes. Its chief demerit is that it is variable in 

 quality, some specimens being of delicious flavor 

 and others distinctly inferior. It has the further 

 fault of cracking seriously. 



In working with this variety during the past 

 few years, I have succeeded in largely eliminating 

 its faults, and in so doing have produced a type 

 that might be considered a new variety. My work 

 with the species has been entirely along the line of 

 selection, for I knew the danger of producing too 

 great variation by hybridizing the members of this 

 family and the almost impossibility of fixing any 

 variation. Most forms have originated by hybridi- 

 zation at no remote time in the past, and it is 

 far better to work with them by selecting indi- 

 viduals that are observed to vary rather than by 

 attempting to produce wider variation. By this 

 method alone I was enabled in a few years to 

 develop a form of the Santa Glaus melon that was 

 considered worthy of introduction. The company 



[45] 



