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PIONEER INSTITUTION 
The late Harry D. Garwood, founder of this business, was a pioneer in the 
cantaloupe shipping and seed growing business. Starting back in 1895 he 
began selecting and breeding cantaloupe seed, selling to his neighbors and 
friends. 
On account of his knowledge of cantaloupes he was made the Secretary and 
Chief Inspector of the first Cantaloupe Growers Association ever formed 
in the United States. This association was organized in Rocky Ford in 
1896 and shipped the first straight carload of cantaloupes from this district. 
In 1901 Mr. Garwood was sent to the Coachella Valley of California to 
develop the growing and shipping of cantaloupes from that district. During 
all this time he continued to work with his seed selecting and breeding until 
he became known wherever cantaloupes were grown. 
From the very first he realized that if the industry was to develop and live, 
the foundation must be Quality Seed. 
Where many seedsmen try to furnish a full line of seed, Mr. Garwood 
devoted his time to growing only those varieties that were used commer¬ 
cially here at Rocky Ford. He branched into cucumber and watermelon 
seed, as many carloads were being shipped from here each season, and when 
Rocky Ford started growing Valencia Onions in a commercial way he began 
to furnish the planters with their seed. 
Farsighted as he was, Mr. Garwood kept several steps ahead in his develop¬ 
ment of select strains. He started his seed business to furnish seed to his 
neighbors but, as his success became known, he was called on for seed by 
most of the larger planters and shippers in the country. 
HOW WE OPERATE 
In order that you may understand why Garwood seeds may be depended 
upon for uniformity, type and high quality, we set out a brief statement 
of our various processes. 
With the exception that we use specially designed threshing machinery to 
extract seeds from watermelons and cucumbers, our processing methods 
are substantially identical in all essentials. 
FIRST—We go through our fields picking and piling the ripe fruits, select¬ 
ing only those true to type and which are heavy yielders. The seeding 
crews, using small cutting stools, cut all cantaloupes by hand, carefully 
inspecting both outside and interior for quality, thickness of flesh, etc. The 
seed is placed in wooden barrels and hauled to the washing platform . . . 
every barrel tagged with variety and field from which cut. 
SECOND—The seeds are placed in the washbox where a steady flow of 
clear well water is running. There the seed is continually stirred to allow 
the pulp to float off, leaving only clean seed at the bottom. 
THIRD—After passing through the washbox, the seed is placed on wire 
screens in the open air, under shade, to dry. The seed is constantly stirred 
so that it will dry uniformly and thoroughly. Each screen carries the tags 
showing the variety and field from which taken. The thoroughly dried seed 
is placed in bags, tagged, and taken to the warehouse. 
FOURTH—Here the dried seed is put through our cleaning mills where 
all light, chaffy and under-weight seed is milled out. The seed is then 
bagged and samples taken of each lot. These samples are used for ger¬ 
mination tests. Many tests are taken of each lot to be sure that we have 
a representative germination test. We send samples to the Agricultural 
College and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and make tests ourselves. 
All these tests are checked against one another. 
Read “Instructions to Purchasers” on inside back cover, before ordering. 
