7 Melons 



in a 



Bushel 



Basket. 



Extra Early Grand Rapids MuskmelonJ 



One Week Earlier Than Any Other Variety. 



This is a grand novelty wtiicli I introduced and tirst ottered the 

 American public in the season of l»9o. 'the main characteristic of 

 this melon is its extreme earllness. Grand Kaplds is well known on 

 account of its progressive market gardeners, and in that wide awake 

 city the New Grand Rapids Muskmelon has been on the market two 

 weeks earlier than any other sort, and sold readily at $2.50 per dozen 

 to hotels and fancy grocers, while Melons grown in the .South were 

 practically unsalable. There is no question that it is bound to super- j 

 sede the Extra Early Hackensack, as it is at least two wee-ks earlier. | 

 Shape is well shown in the illustration, which is taken from a photo- a 

 graph. Flesh is pure yellow, clear to the rind; skin finely netted; the i 

 handsome appearance of this melon is sure to attract attention. To ' 

 attain best results, and to show its remarkable earllness and prolific- j 

 ness, I would advise my customers to pinch off the runners; while It i 

 has no tendency to run more than other varieties, at the same time , 

 by throwing the growth into the fruit, it makes the fruit of lai-ger size ( 

 and earlier. During the past summer 1 received hundreds of unsolic- ' 

 ited testimonial letters, all speaking in the highest terms of this ' 

 grand acquisition. Mr. D. R. Johnson, of Blackshear, Ga., probably \ 

 one of the largest and most successful market gardeners in the South , 

 says: "The 1>^ pounds of Grand Rapids Muskmelon seed I bought of 

 .vou, planted nearly 8,000 hills, making from 2 to 4 fine melons to the 

 hill. I sold them for 5 to 15 cents apiece; they ripened five weeks ear- 

 lier than any seed I had previously planted. There was many came to 

 see my field and a number of newspapers printed facts concerning it." 



Why not be up-to-date and ahead of your neighbors, and have the 

 earliest Muskmelons in your neighborhood the coming season. ; 



Grand Rapids is absolutely the EARLIEST of all melons, large or 

 small, while in shape and general appearance it is one of the handsome 

 est melons ever offered the American melon grower. 



Pkt., 10 cts.; oz., 15 cts.; % lb., 30 cts.; lb., $1.00; 5 lbs., $3.00. 



'^pENS OP THOUSANDU of pounds of Muskmelon and Watermelon 

 -^ seed have been furnished my customers to their entire satisfaction, 

 without a single complaint; for the simple reason that it has never been 

 my practice to market all the best melons and save the culls for seed 

 purposes. Seed is saved from the best melons only. 



THE WONDERFUL SUGHR MELON. 



It is with great pleasure that I offer my customers seed of the best watermelon ever put before the American public. In describing this va- 

 riety, which I originally named and first oflTered in my 1894 Catalogue, I cannot do better than quote from a letter from Prof. Massey, of N. C: 



"As I was the first to bring this melon to public notice through the 

 columns of The Practical Parmer, it is natural that you should ask me 

 more about it. My notice of this melon was prompted solely by the 

 fact that I was satisfied that It was the best watermelon I ever ate. 

 Having not the slightest financial interest in the sale of the seed, I feel 

 perfectly free to give my opinion in regard to it. In August, '1I2, I went 

 to South Carolina, at the invitation of Col. E. R. Mclver, President of 

 the County Agricultural Society, to make an address at their annual 

 meeting. During my stay I was the guest of Col. Mclver at his beauti- 

 ful plantation. It was in the height of the watermelon season, and in 

 addition to his general activity as a progressive planter, Col. Mclver, I 

 found, was an enthusiast in watermelon culture. In a nook on the 

 beautiful lawn around his house, shaded by some fine evergreen oaks, 

 a table was built, long enough to accommodate a score of guests. When 

 I first saw the melons being piled out on the table, 1 asked Col. Mclver 

 if they were Georgia Rattlesnake? 'No sir,' said he, 'go a little closer, 

 and when you try them tell me if you ever ate a Rattlesnake melon 

 equal to them.' I then noticed that the shape was different from the 

 Georgia melon. Col. Mclver informed me that this melon had been 



grown by him for many years from seed originally from the West 

 Indies, and that, although he had tried all the new melons, he had yet 

 found none equal to it. Now it is admitted that the Florida Favorite is 

 a melon of good quality, so one morning the Col. sent to another patch 

 and had a tine Florida Favorite brought in, split in two, with some of 

 his own, and the spoons were handed around for all to compare the 

 two. There was no getting around the fact that the Mclver melon was 

 far superior in sweetness. One of the greatest excellencies of this melon 

 is its ability to withstand wet weather. The summer of '92 was very 

 wet up to the end of .July, and was then succeeded by prolonged 

 drought. The wet weather had caused nearly all watermelons to crack 

 in the centre and become hollow, but we never found one of the Sugar 

 Melons cracked in the slightest degree, and there was a total absence of 

 anything like stringiuess, which makes Kolb Gem and others so objec- 

 tionable. I have grown nearly every watermelon in the catalogues, old 

 and new, and can sincerely say that this melon is the best of all, and 

 leaves nothing to be desired in a watermelon that I can conceive of." 



Yours truly, 



W. F. MASSEY. 



The above letter covers the ground so fully, and describes so tersely, the superior qualities of the Sugar Melon that I do not think I can im- 

 prove upon it. Mr. E. L. Coy, West Hebron, iSf. Y., who probably knows melons as well as any one in America, writes me : "Wonderful Sugar 

 Melon is certainly the sweetest and best flavored watermelon I have ever seen." More than 20,000 of my customers, embracing among them 

 many of the most celebrated melon growers in America, unanimously endorsed Mclver's Sugar without exception as the most perfect and 

 thoroughbred melon it had ever been their pleasure to raise, and In flavor fur ahead of anything they ever conceived of in a watermelon. 

 Packet, 10 ceuts; ouuce, 15 cents; % pound, 30 cents; pound, $1.00; 5 pounds, $3.00. 



The Sweetest 

 of All. 



The Best of 

 All. 



