A RUST resisting cantaloupe. 
7 
and also produced the first ripe cantaloupe from the plat, Aug. 9th. 
A few days later the other strains gave a greater yield of early mel¬ 
ons, doubtless due to the rust, which soon after destroyed ] all the 
plat except the hills mentioned. 
These observations were verified in other fields planted with 
the Pollock strain. That of W. B. Ebberts, east of Rocky Ford, 
was an exceptionally fine field of cantaloupes, and revealed green 
hills here and there over the patch after all neighboring fields had 
been destroyed by rust. A portion of the cantaloupe field on Mr. 
J. H. Whittenburg’s place, west of Rocky Ford, was planted with 
the Pollock seed and the balance with what is known as the “Blinn” 
strain. By Sept. 24th the portion of the field planted with the 
• Pollock seed had many hills that remained green, when the balance 
of the field was brown And dead with rust. 
Plates I and II fairly represent the contrast in the two portions 
of the field. These give views of adjacent hills. Plate II is a 
resistant plant, grown from the Pollock seed; Plate I a rusted 
hill from the other strain. There was also a remarkable contrast 
in the superior quality of the cantaloupes produced from the re¬ 
sistant hills; these were uniformly sweet and spicy and possessed 
excellent keeping qualities. 
A quantity of seed from the rust resisting hills was selected to 
carry on the work of developing a rust resisting strain of canta¬ 
loupes. 
During the past season, 1905, this resistant seed was planted 
on the same plat of ground upon which the experiments had been 
previously conducted, and which had grown in succession two very 
badly rusted melon crops, the idea being to develop the resistant 
strain in as adverse rust infested conditions as possible, to thus re¬ 
veal the most strongly resistant plants. 
The results of the past season were affected somewhat by the 
destructive hail of May 26th, yet fortunately by replanting, and 
with some hills which survived the hail, very encouraging results 
were obtained. Many who visited the plat were surprised at the 
great contrast between the rust resisting hills and those from ordi¬ 
nary seed. 
Plates III and IV, views taken Sept. 20th, reveal the contrast not 
only in the vines, but also in the character of the melons produced 
on the respective hills. On the rust resisting hills the melons were 
hidden under a healthy growth of vines and were large, solidly net¬ 
ted, with thick, firm flesh, small seed cavity completely filled with 
seed. On the rusted hill the plants were almost devoid of leaves 
and the small melons were prematurely ripe, with thin, watery flesh, 
large, open seed cavity, and practically of no market value. 
