160 POPULAR ERRORS. 



possible difference in sex can exist in the fruits 

 themselves. 



Flavoring Watermelons on the Vines. "A Geor- 

 gia gentleman, we are informed by the statement now 

 appearing in the daily newspapers, has discovered a 

 method of flavoring watermelons while they are 

 growing. Before the melon ripens he cuts out a 

 slit in the stem one inch long and two-thirds 

 through it. In this opening the extract or flavor - 

 iDg substance is placed, and then he closes the stem 

 carefully, so as to keep out the air, and binds a 

 string around it. The quantity of extract used 

 depends upon the size of the melon. This opera- 

 tion is to be repeated every morning until the fruit 

 is flavored satisfactorily. How this point is to be 

 ascertained we are not informed. . . . This is a 

 specimen of the trash which is going around the 

 country under the head of ' Agricultural Informa- 

 tion.' " American Agriculturist, 1886, page 387. 



The Seeds of Clot-bur. In West Virginia there 

 is a belief that the burs or fruits of this plant 

 (Xanthium Canadensis) which contain two cells, 

 with one seed in each, have the peculiar property 

 that one of the seeds will germinate one year and 

 the other the next, so that it takes two years to 

 free the soil of this weed. An examination of 

 seventy- one burs showed in thirty of them no good 



