THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



181 



grown without an}' irrigation, the subsoil being inoisi 

 and kept so by deep tillage while the crop is grow- 

 ing- 

 Varieties of head gates, the direct drawing af water 

 from rivers and streams and damming are not given, 

 for the reason that such appliances are not within the 

 control of the individual irrigation farmer, but are 

 under the management of the State, the federal Gov- 

 ernment or of water companies. The idea is all that 

 is necessary in this article, and from the idea given 

 the farmer may apply the principle to ditches and 

 reservoirs over which lie has control on his own land. 



BREEDING CANTALOUPE SEED. 



Remarkable Improvement of the Colorado Rocky Ford Melon by 

 Process of Selection. 



BY PHILO B. BLINN, 

 Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. 



The cantaloupe now known as the Rocky Ford was 

 originally Burpee's Netted Gem, but under the favor- 

 able conditions which prevail in the arid regions of 

 Colorado it has developed into a melon surpassing in 

 quality the parent stock, and its superior merits have 

 won for it a new name and a popular reputation. 



The cantaloupe is a product of years of systematic 

 selection, and it requires the same methods to maintain 

 its excellence as were employed in its development. 

 Without care in selection, the natural tendency of all 

 cultivated plants to vary will soon cause a good strain 

 of cantaloupes to revert to an undesirable type. 



There is a marked contrast between the products 

 bf_ carelessly selected and pedigreed, i. e., carefully se- 

 lected, melon seed ; the one is inclined to be irregular 

 in size and form, with the netting thin and often want- 

 ing, and with a decided tendency to ripen -prematurely, 

 turning yellow and soft ; a loss not uncommonly of 20 

 to 40 per cent in culls, while choice seed produces mel- 

 ons that are uniform in size and shape, the netting thick 

 and complete, the marketable stage more prolonged, 

 and practically no loss in culls. 



The wide reputation of the Rocky Ford cantaloupe 

 has created a great demand for Rocky Ford seed, as it 

 is claimed to produce a higher grade of cantaloupes 

 than seed from other States, and each year large quan- 

 tities are saved to fill this demand, but unfortunately 

 for the industry, the quality of this supply is not what 

 it should be; it is principally produced from the cull 

 piles. 



After frost, at the close of the shipping season, 

 everything in the line of a cantaloupe, green or ripe, 

 large or small, is gathered and run through a melon 

 seeder, with no attempt at selection. 



This seed is bought by the jobber and seedsman 

 for ten to twenty cents per pound, and when it is on the 

 market it can not be distinguished from well selected 

 seed, and doubtless is sold as such. 



There would be nothing to commend such seed to 

 any practical grower if he realized its source. 



As the seed market has been so abused, to procure 

 good seed one must either save it himself, or have seen 

 the melons from which it was saved, or purchase it from 

 a reliable grower before it has passed through several 

 hands. 



The fact that seed can be had cheap and growers 

 are willing to plant it, is an evident reason for its ex- 

 istence on the market, but the lack of information as 



to what constitutes a good seed cantaloupe may also 

 be responsible for poor seed selection. In this bulletin 

 we wish to show what a good melon is and .that it pays 

 to plant and save good seed. 



STANDARD OF PERFECTION. 



A perfect Rocky Ford cantaloupe should be a 

 melon slightly over four inches in diameter and about 

 four and five-eighths inches long ; it should have silver 

 grey netting that stands out like thick, heavy lace/ prac- 

 tically covering the entire melon, save the well-defined 

 slate colored stripes; these should run the whole length 

 of the melon clear cut as if grooved out with a round 

 chisel, and terminating at the blossom end in a small 

 button. The interstices in the netting should benight 

 olive green, that turns slightly yellow when the melon 

 is ready for market. A melon with a black skin under 

 the netting is not so attractive in appearance. 



But the outward appearance is not the only basis 

 for selection in saving seed; the inside points are as 

 essential to consider as any external quality, and no 

 one can determine that a melon is fit for seed until it 

 has been cut open and the inside qualities examined; 

 for this reason the machine seeder is of no use in select- 

 ing choice seed; the melons should all be cut and ex- 

 amined by hand. 



The flesh should be thick and firm, of a smooth 

 texture, and free from watery appearance, rich and 

 melting in flavor. The shipping and keeping qualities 

 depend largely on the solidity of the melon, so the seed 

 cavity should be small and perfectly filled with seed. 

 The color of the flesh near the rind should be dark 

 green, shading lighter toward the seed cavity, which 

 should be salmon or orange in color. The flesh is often 

 mottled with salmon, and not uncommonly the entire 

 flesh is of that color. The flavor is usually quite uni- 

 form, though it is sometimes affected by the health of 

 the vines or other conditions of growth. 



The seed will bear close inspection, as it is some- 

 times cracked or sprouted, which renders it of no value 

 for germination. 



The first steps in seed selection should be made 

 when the melons are growing. Extra prolific hills 

 should be marked with stakes, and the earliest ripening 

 specimens conforming to the above ideal should be saved 

 as choice seed, and planted in a place isolated from 

 other melons, and the same care should be exercised in 

 the years that follow. 



Unless one has a well developed strain of seed, it 

 is not probable that he can save more than one or two 

 pounds per acre of extra selected seed, so the supply 

 of choice seed is limited. 



The market value of the cantaloupe at the time the 

 seed is saved should determine the price of seed. Thus, 

 it requires about as many melons to produce one pound 

 of seed as will fill a standard crate, and actually more, 

 because some melons need to be rejected. This can not 

 be fully determined until the melon is cut, when, if it 

 proves unfit for seed, it is also lost for market. So the 

 price of seed must be equal to or exceed the price of a 

 crate of melons at the time the seed was saved. 



At the average price of cantaloupes through the 

 shipping season, the grower must realize at least a dollar 

 per pound to warrant him in saving seed for the mar- 

 ket. At the close of the shipping season, when melons 

 are no longer marketable, the seed is willingly saved 

 for what it will bring. This is the source of a large 

 part of the seed on the market. 



