Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


the wilt problem. Work was started in the spring of 1930 and
has been carried on continuously since that time at Leesburg.
The purpose of this paper is to describe a new variety of wilt-
resistant melon that has been developed and to review briefly
the work connected with its development.
 Since many growers apparently do not understand the nature
and cause of the wilt disease and often confuse it with anthrac-
nose and other diseases of the watermelon plant, a brief review
of the principal characteristics of wilt follows.

 NATURE OF THE DISEASE
 The fungus causing wilt was first recognized and described
more than 40 years ago as Fusarium niveum E. F. S. It be-
longs to a group of fungi which cause wilt diseases in such
crops as asters, cabbage, cotton, cowpeas, flax and tomatoes.
This fungus, like all other fungi, is a plant and as such it grows
and reproduces in a manner somewhat similar to that of flower-
ing plants. Its reproductive elements, which function like the
seeds of higher plants, are known as spores. They are so
small that they can be seen only with the aid of considerable


 Fig. 2.-Culture plates showing wilt fungus growing out of pieces of
diseased watermelon stem.