

“Ordinary” Seed vs. Hybrid Seed 

In the spring of 1944, we purchased 3 packets of 
“ordinary” watermelon seed, put up by a very 
prominent seed distributor,—one each of Tom 
Watson, Kleckley Sweet, and Triumph (or Florida 
Giant, or Black Diamond,—but known locally as 
Triumph), and we planted one hill from each 
package. Side by side, we planted 3 hills of our 
own Air Line Hybrid seed. They were planted in 
our garden, away from other melons and they 
were tended identically. On the same day in Sep- 
tember, we gathered all of the melons on the 6 
vines, weighed them, and took this picture. There 
were a few small ones on the vines, but inasmuch 
as we do not consider a melon under 25 pounds 
to be marketable, these were not considered. 
No remarkable melons were produced,—but 
THE DIFFERENCE IS MOST REMARKABLE. 
Just take these results and multiply by the num- 
ber of hills to the acre, and the answer will cer- 
tainly astonish you. 
Three hills of AJR LINE HYBRID melons out- 
produced the “ordinary” hills by 172 pounds, At 
2c per pound that is a difference of $3.44. Now 
multiply this result by say 600 hills to the acre. 
Unfair? Probably so. Test plots generally are. 
Our melons have never averaged 193 pounds to 
the hill, and doubtless never will,—on a larger 
acreage. However, we have had hills that produc- 
ed far more than 193 pounds of melons. 
WE HAVE SHOWN THE RESULTS OF THIS 
LITTLE GARDEN TEST PLOT FOR JUST ONE 
REASON,—IF YOU ARE GOING TO PLANT A 
SMALL GARDEN PATCH OR A LARGE ACRE- 
AGE,—WHY NOT PLANT THE SEED THAT 
“BRINGS HOME THE BACON?”. HYBRID SEED 
DOES JUST THAT. 
Here is the tabulated result of our little test 
plot. Look it over, and WHEN YOU GET READY 
TO BUY YOUR SEED—remember AIR LINE 
FARM, ROSSVILLE, KANSAS. 
On the left—(ordinary seed) 3 long Tom Wat- 
sons (front 3 left). Two of these melons were very 
odd shaped, and one was white centered and 
hard. 33 Ibs., 32 Ibs. and 30 lbs. 
In the rear, left—2 Triumph melons, 30 lbs. and 
27 lbs. Neither melon was comparably sweet, but 
both were good enough shape and were “red 
rneated.” 
On the right--Kleckley Sweet, 33 lbs. and 29 
Ibs. Both melons were fine, sweet melons, fair 
shape and salable. However, both melons had 
badly separated hearts, which if “plugged into,” 
would have caused any buyer to have rejected 
the melon as not good. (In fairness, the Kleckley 
Sweet had an extra melon which weighed 18 lbs., 
that was a good melon, and did not have a sep- 
arated heart.) 
Total weight—7 melons—215 Ibs. 
On the right—Air Line Hybrid, Eight melons— 
weights 57, 26, 63, 54, 55, 51, 38, 42 Ibs. 
Every one of these melons was a beautifully 
shaped, perfect melon in every respect. 
Total weight, 8 melons, 387 Ibs. 
ON JUST 3 HILLS, OUR AIR LINE HYBRIDS 
PRODUCED MORE THAN ENOUGH EXTRA 
POUNDS OF MELONS, AT 2c PER POUND, TO 
PLANT A WHOLE ACRE OF OUR HYBRID 
SEED. 
If you nad anticipated planting just a small 
patch for your own use, why not get some extra 
seed, and raise some to sell? WATERMELONS 
PAY AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT PER ACRE, 
eae TG ALMOST ANY OTHER FIELD 
