The modern melon we know today was not imported but was created by the Burpee company who introduced this cultivar in the early 1880s. This was a different kind of melon with a net-like skin covering. It became known as the Rocky Ford melon (named for the region of Colorado). It was landowner, politician, and entrepreneur George Washington Swink who helped built the melon industry; he transformed the region by developing a canal-based irrigation system; he also introduced honeybees to the region and invented the cantaloupe crate. Later, California and other states built up their melon business and surpassed Colorado.
Read more: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0974/ANR-0974.pdf
The modern melon we know today was not imported but was created by the Burpee company who introduced this cultivar in the early 1880s. This was a different kind of melon with a net-like skin covering. It became known as the Rocky Ford melon (named for the region of Colorado). It was landowner, politician, and entrepreneur George Washington Swink who helped built the melon industry; he transformed the region by developing a canal-based irrigation system; he also introduced honeybees to the region and invented the cantaloupe crate. Later, California and other states built up their melon business and surpassed Colorado.
Read more: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0974/ANR-0974.pdf