WATERMELON 
Plant 1 pound per acre. 
In the garden plant 1 packet to 75 feet of row for a family of 3 or 4 people. 
Our Bred-Rite watermelon seeds come only from melons spe- 
cially grown for seed, in isolated fields to prevent cross pol- 
lination by other varieties. Not a single melon is sold or 
shipped from our Bred-Rite seed growing fields. Our Bred-Rite 
melon seed is the finest and best that can be secured anywhere. 
In selecting our stock seed, we save true-to-type melons from 
only the most vigorous growing, prolific vines, which produce 
melons of uniform color, shape and size, and of uniform high 
edible quality. 
CuLtTurE. Watermelons may be grown on nearly all kinds 
of Florida soils that have good drainage, but rolling, sandy 
pine land is preferred. In general, new land is best for this 
crop in order to avoid diseases. The field should be checked 
off, planting the seed in hills 8 feet apart each way or 7 by 9 
feet. Seed should be planted % to 1 inch deep, and plants 
should be thinned to 2 or 3 plants per hill when they are still 
small and when all danger of frost is past, later thinning to 1 
plant per hill for best results. For late planting, a row of corn 
between every two rows of melons helps to prevent sunburn- 
ing. The most successful growers apply a 4-7-5 fertilizer mix- 
ture about a week before planting the seed. A second applica- 
tion may be made if necessary when the vines begin to run. 
The fertilizer should be worked into the hills before planting 
at the rate of two pounds per hill, or 800 pounds per acre. The 
first planting of watermelons for an early crop in Florida 
should be made about January Ist and successive plantings may 
be made up to about the middle of February in Central and 
South Florida. Plantings in North Florida are made two or 
three weeks later. For watermelon seed treatment see page 49. 
For earlier melons use Hotkaps. (See page 59.) 
The number of days after each variety named indicates the 
time from seed planting to ripe fruit. 
Prices quoted are postpaid. 
Write for special prices on larger quantities. 
DIXIE QUEEN. (90 days.) This has become one of Flor- 
ida’s leading shipping melons. It possesses all the good quali- 
ties demanded by commercial growers, namely, size, color 
flavor, shipping quality and high yield. The almost round 
fruits average 32 pounds. The flesh is of a most attractive, 
rich, bright-red color. It is solid, with very few small white 
seeds. The outer skin is light green, striped and blotched with 
dark green. The rind, although thin, is tough and does not 
bruise easily, making it an ideal shipping melon. It is one of 
the sweetest-flavored and highest quality melons grown. This 
variety is sometimes, but quite erroneously, called “White Seed- 
ed Cuban Queen.” Because of its many desirable features, 
Dixie Queen has become one of the leading, standard com- 
mercial varieties of Florida, and because of its high edible 
quality it is also grown extensively for home use. 
Pkt. 10c; oz. 15ce; %4 lb. 45e; 1 Ib. $1.50 
BLACKLEE (New Wilt-Resistant). (98 days.) This new, 
wilt-resistant variety was originated, developed and released 
by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. Blacklee was 
developed by Dr. M. N. Walker from a cross of Leesburg and 
Hawkesbury. This variety grows vigorously, is very resistant 
to Fusarium Wilt disease, and produces uniform, medium size, 
elongated, blocky, very symmetrical and smooth, attractive ap- 
pearing melons with a dark rich green colored rind, which rind 
is very thin but hard, tough and of good carrying quality, mak- 
ing it a good long distance shipper and good keeper. The 
flesh, which runs within one-half inch of the outside of the 
melon, is an attractive bright red with medium size black seed, 
of excellent flavor and fine texture and delicious, crisp, sweet 
eating quality. The melons cut solid, are free from springiness, 
and have a delicate, distinctive flavor. The melons will, under 
good growing conditions, average 34 pounds, an ideal size for 
shipping. They run very uniform and are exceptionally heavy 
for their size. In addition to disease resistance, this variety pos- 
sesses about all the desirable characteristics one could wish for 
in an ideal shipping, local market and home garden variety. 
Sometimes, but wrongly so, called Improved Wilt-Resistant 
Watson. 
Seed supply limited. 
Pkt. 10c; oz. 30c; %4 lb. 75c; 1 Ib. $2.50 
LEESBURG (Wilt-Resistant). (95 days.) This variety, 
originated by Dr. M. N. Walker of the Florida Agricultural 
Experiment Station, and developed at Leesburg, Fla., is attract- 
ing a great deal of attention in Florida. It not only is extreme- 
ly resistant to Fusarium Wilt disease, which permits of its 
being grown on the same land successive years, but it also 
possesses desirable qualities for commercial shipping as well 
as a home garden melon. It makes a heavy, vigorous vine 
growth, which means productivity and high yields. The melons 
are elongated, like Watson, but are more symmetrical, some- 
what shorter, and more chunky and blocky at both ends, having 
a shape ideal for loading in cars and for the markets. The 
rind is thin, but very tough and strong, making it a very good 
shipper. The smooth rind is of dark green color, stands more 
sun without sun-burning than other green melons. The weight, 
under good growing conditions, ranges from 26 to 30 pounds, 
an ideal size for market. The flesh is solid throughout, with 
an attractive deep rose-pink color, and with very few small 
white seeds. In cutting hundreds of melons no trace of white 
heart has ever been discovered. Exceedingly sweet, of fine 
firm texture, not stringy, and ripens clean to the rind with a 
sharp line of demarcation between flesh and rind. This variety 
should be of particular value to home gardeners who, because 
of wilt disease in their soils, cannot grow other varieties. 
Pkt. 10c; oz. 15c; % Ib. 40c; 1 Ib. $1.25 

Dixie Queen watermelon 

36 
For Best Results Plant Kilgore’s ““Bred-Rite” Seeds 
