85 



harrowed, and while it could not be cut for ha}", owing to its shrubby 

 nature, yet it would make excellent winter browsing for either sheep 

 or cattle. Since 189G thirt^^-eight packages of the seed of winter fat 

 have been distributed by this division. Eleven reports have been 

 received, but most of the experimenters seem to have had ditficultv in 

 growing it successfully luider cultivation. Our special agent at Walla 

 AValla, Wash., however, finds that it adapts itself readily to cultivation, 

 producing an abundance of seed. 



TSAMA WATERMELON (Citrullus vulgaris) . 



(Fig. 1.) 



A few seeds of this variety were received from Professor MacOwan, 

 government botanist for Cape Colony, and distributed to the Arizona 

 and California experiment stations, with the hope that a quantity of 

 seed might be produced for general distribution. The Tsama water- 

 melon is a native of the Kalahari Desert, in South, Africa, where it 

 is often the only supply of water for travelers crossing these arid 

 regions. It is especially adapted to withstand great extremes of tem- 

 perature and drought, and hence might be valuable for wide introduc- 

 tion through the deserts of Arizona and southern California. 



Professor MacOwan writes: 



The waterless regions would be impassable but for its perfectly tasteless watery 

 contents. It is merely a variety of Citrullus vulgaris with tasteless and nonpurgative 

 puliD. The vines grow rapidly and spread many feet, yielding a large quantity of 

 round melons 4 inches or more in diameter. 



Tsama watermelon has grown and matured in the grass garden of 

 the Department of Agriculture at Washington. The California Exper- 

 iment Station is now distributing the seed of this melon under the erro- 

 neous name of Khama watermelon, with the following notice: 



This curious little stock melon came from the Kalahari Desert, in South Af.-ica, 

 and is said to grow well on exceedingly arid soil. At Pomona substation, without 

 water, on sandy soil, it yielded at the rate of 22 tons to the acre. Cows and horses 

 eat the melons readily. 



At the experiment stations of Arizona and California it grew luxuri- 

 antly, as the following report will show. 



Mr. J. W. Mills, foreman. Sub-experiment Station, Los Angeles, Cal. : 



A reddish-brown, sandy loam was plowed 10 inches deep in October, 1898, irri- 

 gated in January, 1899, replowed in February, and cultivated until June. The seeds 

 were planted in hills 12 by 24 feet between rows of fruit trees on June 5, 1899. The 

 plants came up well and were thinned, leaving two in a hill. The crop was culti- 

 vated only once before the vines covered the ground. It was in bloom from July to 

 October 1. In (juality it is about on a par with the melon known as pie melon, stock 

 melon, or citnju. The vines grew about 12 to 15 feet long, jjroducing from 120 to 160 

 melons per hill. The crop was harvested about November 1, 1899, when about one- 

 fourth of tlic melons were ripe. The yield per acre if planted 15 by 15 feet would 



