4 
The: Colorado Expe:rime:nt Station. 
at this point, for the cantaloupe growers of California and the 
southern states look to Rocky Ford each year for their supply of 
seed. They unanimously concede that they can mature their melons 
a week to ten days earlier and be assured of more uniform results 
in regard to size and quality, when they plant the Colorado grown 
seed, than if they use the same strain after it has been grown native 
with them a year or so. It is a good instance of the change in 
plants, that environments may sometimes produce, and how these 
variations may be transmitted to a degree, when the plants are 
grown under other conditions. The effects of altitude and latitude 
have long been regarded as an influence that hastens maturity in 
plants when their seed are grown in lower or southern regions. It 
is also a notable fact that grains produced in the dry climatic con¬ 
ditions of Colorado are heavier per bushel and are superior in 
quality to that grown in humid sections where the rainfall is ex¬ 
cessive; it is evident, that where the moisture is controlled, and the 
soil and weather conditions will develop the fine flavor and qual¬ 
ities found in the Rocky Ford cantaloupe, that the same conditions 
will, in a measure, lend an influence to mature the seed with su¬ 
perior germinating power, vigor of growth and strong inherent 
tendencies, over that produced in less favored localities. This would 
indicate that points in Colorado are destined to continue as superior 
cantaloupe seed growing centers, provided the growers will resort 
to the proper methods of seed breeding that will insure the im¬ 
provement of the cantaloupe in all its possibilities. 
inde:finite: and unsyste:matic se:lkction. 
Those familiar with the subject realize that a large amount 
of the seed that has been saved in the past was not choice selected 
seed, for much of it is saved from cantaloupes that were unmark¬ 
etable for some reason, or it Avas saved late in the season from 
immature melons after frost has destroyed the vines; improvement 
under such conditions would hardly be expected and deterioration 
would be almost inevitable. However, there are growers who have 
been interested in producing choice cantaloupe seed, but even at 
best their system of selection has been too indefinite and incom¬ 
plete to insure the best results. The plan of most growers in select¬ 
ing seed for their own planting, is to lay aside the choicest speci¬ 
mens from the piles as they are gathered for market; these may be 
further graded before they are finally saved for seed, which would 
seem that the system possessed some merit,,yet it is quite analogous 
to the use of the fanning mill for developing improved grain, or 
the selection of seed corn from the crib to better the corn crop; 
the selection is incomplete, for the seed selected from an indiscrim¬ 
inate pile does not take into consideration the many inherent tend¬ 
encies of the plant from which it was produced, no matter how 
