6 Thi: Colorado Explrimlnt Station. 
results of the test revealed that one of the strains had marked dis¬ 
ease resistant qualities, for when the balance of the plat was prac¬ 
tically dead and dried up with the disease the rows of this variety 
had a number of plants only slightly affected. 
The seed of these resistant individuals were secured and the 
following season, 1905, the same plat of ground was again used, 
in order that the rust-resistant feature could be developed in as 
adverse conditions as possible. It chanced this season that one of 
the rows in the plat was planted with the seed of one cantaloupe and 
the product of this row was so uniform in all of its qualities that it 
was evident that individual selection was an essential point to con¬ 
sider; also the increased percent of the resistant plants gave evi¬ 
dence that the quality was transmitted and could be developed by 
seed selection. 
The seed of the most resistant plants were again saved, but 
this time each one was kept separate, the next year, 1906, the same 
plat was again used. The test demonstrated that the product of 
some plants reproduced quite uniformly and in others there was 
a tendency to vary; this seemed to emphasize the importance of 
selecting individual melons as well as the plant, and isolating the 
breeding plats as far as possible to prevent undesirable crosses. 
One row in the plat was planted as a check row, with the seed of 
a very choice melon but which had not been selected for the disease- 
resistant quality. This row was destroyed with the rust at least 
two weeks before the balance of the plat gave signs of the disease 
to any extent. (Plate I) 
As the disease began to develop in the plat, a careful study 
was made and the most resistant plants were numbered by a stake, 
and as the melons ripened the most desirable were selected and the 
seed saved separate with a descriptive record made of each. Near 
the close of the season the plat was gone over again and noted as 
to which plants had been the most resistant during the summer; 
this revealed the fact that a few had been more enduring than all 
the rest. The seed of these could be easily identified and those that 
scored the highest in points of quality, were selected for the work 
in 1907. The seed were planted in separate adjacent blocks of fifty 
hills each on the same old plat that now, for five consecutive years 
had been devoted to cantaloupes, which is enough to insure a fail¬ 
ure on account of the disease with any of the ordinary strains of 
seed after it has been grown on the same soil so long; but since 
the beginning of the resistant selection the plat has shown a de¬ 
crease in the presence of the disease, while in adjacent fields the 
fungus has been as prevalent as ever and even more destructive. 
Except for a few individual plants, the plat during the past season 
has been practically free from the disease. 
