VARIETIES OF FORCING MELONS, 219 
the very best, ripening ten days or two weeks after Blen- 
heim Orange. 
Empress. A globular melon of rather small size, rib- 
less, but marked with very coarse angular bars; flesh 
pale orange, of good quality, but occasionally inclined to 
be somewhat acid. A pretty little melon, with curious 
markings, ripening with Masterpiece. Less desirable than 
Blenheim or Masterpiece. 
Monarch. A good-sized melon, with sparse markings, 
except about the blossom end; dull yellow in color, not 
ribbed; flesh described as thick and solid, red, of ex- 
cellent flavor. Ripens with Masterpiece. Our stock of 
this melon appears to have been mixed, and we have 
also grown a cross with Lockinge. Because of its vari- 
able character and somewhat unattractive appearance, we 
prize it less than some other varieties; but it is probable 
that a pure stock would have given more satisfactory 
results. From one stock we got green-fleshed fruits of 
best quality. We do not know which is the true Monarch. 
Other varieties we have tested as follows: Sutton 
At, good size (a fruit picked January 26 weighed 2 lbs. 
3 ozs.), very prominently and beautifully barred, the flesh 
orange, quality of the very best; Perfection, slightly fur- 
rowed and scarcely netted, green outside, the flesh green, 
but good and rich, though not so musky and aromatic 
as Masterpiece; Sutton Scarlet, flesh red, of excellent 
quality; Imperial, a rather soft, green-fleshed melon, 
but the best variety (in a lot of a dozen or more) 
tested in the season of 1895-6 (best fruit weighed 1 Ib. 
14 ozs.); Windsor Castle, large (specimen picked Janu- 
ary 20 weighed 2 Ibs. 6 ozs), with no ridges or bars (oc- 
casionally a vestige of bars), flesh green, quality fair to 
good. Amongst our own crosses, Masterpiece « Lock- 
inge is perhaps the best. It has a pale-red or sometimes 
lemon-colored flesh, and is somewhat variable in quality, 
but generally very excellent. A sample of this fruit was 
sent to a connoisseur on the 15th of January, who wrote 
