Rocky Ford enterprise., 1897-08-19
SELECTING cANrALourE SEED

SELE,:TING GANTALOuPE SEED
Important SugE.~tiolx aud Warnings
from r. X. Blinn.
Since tho cantaloupe il propagated
only from seed. 1t becomes q matter OF
first importance that great care should be
taken in selecting and saving tho ssed in
order to maintain the high degree of OK.
csllenos that care and selection have at.
tanned. There ia 9 tendency to revert to
the original type, in plants grown from
the seed, unless there II q continuation
OF tho methods that were used in devel-
oping it A few Seasons OF careleesDess
In saving seed. may suiIice to destroy
what has taken years to build up.
There are two principal causes by
which planta become unfif for seed pro-
duction,. yet both can Be controlled, for.
~ Darwin expresses II, "The key IL mans
gives variation. Man adds them up In
certain directions useful to him."
Croesing or mixing with undesirable
varieties may be classed a. one OF the
principal causes by which plants become
unfit for seed.
Where the whole success Of the can't
aloupe industry is based on the purity
and quality OF the product, words cannot
be too severe In condemning the practice
OF planting any thing but the PURE
NETrED GEM. (the variety best adapt
ed to this locality
As the cantaloupe belongs to that
clasa OF plants largely dependent upon
insects for pollenixing, isolation from
other patches 10 no assurance OF purity
20 the utmost effort should be put forth
variety than the pure Melted Gem in
this locality.
''The accepted opinion that cucumbers
spoil cantaloupes when planted near was
refuted by an experiment. in which ninty-
seven melon flowers were pollinated
nom cucumbers Of different varieties and
no fruits at all were developed" Cornell
Bulletin, 25)
Neglect in selecting good seed IL the
other cause OF deterioration. Collecting
Sod from unmarketable melons, or at the
close OF the shipping season u . vicious
practice. A melon that II unfit for mar.
ket is doubly unfit for seed. In select
ing seed one viii. OF course, be guided by
the purposes in view, a. earlinees, vital.
ity, productiveness uniformity in form,
size, color, netting, texture. flavor, and
shipping quality-in every way the ideal
cantaloupe. In every case plants show
ing the greatest perfection In these quail.
ities should be set aside for seed In
this way our cantaloupes will not only
keep up but will steadily become better.
Ono author says. -Only second in i'm.
portance to the selection Of the plant, ID
the selection Of the seed itself. Not all
the oo0d even Of n OOod nlank ahon1d ho
used for reproduction. OF the seeds
gathered from prime plants some will be
better than others. Only the largest,
plumpest seeds should be preserved. II
IL true that large seed from poor plants
may be worse than small SEED from good
plants, but the best 10 never too GOOD,
By saving only the largest seed from the
most nearly typical plants the stock can
not fail to be improved year after year.
Too much emphasis cannot be placed up
on this matter Of selection. The selec.
ton Of the best seed from typical plants
10 a. essential to continued success in
agriculture as are good soil and careful
cultivation"
The superior value Of large, heavy
seed has been fully demonstrated by the
Government in large number OF tests
with plants of different vorietles, and
without an exception the large heavy
seed has shown large per cent OF gain
over the small light seed, and decided
gain in earliness Of production.
A salt solution Of such density that
only the heavy seed will sink il one
method suggested for separating the
seed. The seed should be thoroughly
washed and dried and preserved from ex-
tremes Of heat or cold.