1^6 Dr Howison on the Management of the 



Banks of the Volga. Their cultivation requires but little 

 trouble. They thrive in the open air, only to the 52d degree 

 of north latitude. The melon gardens, from their size, might 

 rather be called fields ; they are inclosed with a slight fence, just 

 sufficient to keep off cattle, and are divided into long beds, be- 

 tween which, in the oriental style, little canals are cut in the 

 soil for watering the plants. For this purpose, the gardens are 

 always laid out contiguous to a pool, or to a streamlet of run- 

 ning water. The melon comes early forward, and is, with lit- 

 tle pains, brought to a large size. They are treated with little 

 more care than the most common field fruits ; and yet, in every 

 plantation of them, melons are to be found weighing thirty 

 pounds, and which, in point of succulence, and mild flavour, 

 cannot be excelled. The plant sends out a very luxuriant crop 

 of dark green coloured fresh looking leaves, and also long juicy 

 pale coloured shoots, or tendrils, of considerable thickness, which 

 extend to a great distance, creeping along the surface of the soil. 

 The fruit is of a rich, dark green, variegated colour, sometimes 

 spotted, of an oval shape, and grows to a large size. When ripe, 

 and cut into, it appears pure white, of a spongy looking structure, 

 and contains at the heart large dark coloured seeds, surrounded 

 with a pale pink tint, colouring the pulpy substance on which 

 they are contained, and gradually losing itself in the white. 

 When eaten, it is remarkably juicy, resembling cold spring wa- 

 ter, and is well adapted as a refrigerant for allaying thirst, and 

 other disagreeable effects of a warm climate. It may be used 

 either raw, with powdered sugar, or ginger, or salted in the 

 same manner as the cucumber. The water-melon also possesses 

 the advantages of keeping in its fresh state for a considerable 

 period ; and, from the firmness of its texture, it will bear without 

 injury removal to a great distance. 



Water-melons, although they are annually sent to the great 

 towns of St Petersburg and Moscow, in abundance, and at a 

 cheap rate, from the southern parts of the empire, are also 

 brought to maturity by forcing under glass frames, in consider- 

 able quantity, at an early period of the season, in the northern 

 parts of Russia, but chiefly in the neighbourhood of the princi- 

 pal towns. What is principally necessary during their cultiva- 

 tion in this manner, is to take particular care not to injure the 



