MELONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



£y^ pv^HE melon belongs to the order 

 CucurbitacecB of which there are 

 over three hundred species, 

 most of which have long slen- 

 der vines and tendrils by means of which 

 they climb, but some have neither vines 

 nor tendrils, and are bunchy and bush- 

 like in appearance, 



" The melon is an annual with pal- 

 mately lobed leaves, and bears ten- 

 drils. It is monoscious, having male 

 and female flowers on the same plant. 

 The flowers have deeply five-lobed 

 campanulated coroleas and three sta- 

 mens. Naudin a French botanist 

 observed, that in some varieties (e. g. of 

 Cantaloups) fertile stamens sometimes 

 occur in the female flowers." 



It is a native of the South of Asia. 

 It is found growing wild from the foot 

 of the Himalayas down South to Cape 

 Comorin, but is now cultivated in the 

 temperate and warm regions of the 

 whole world. It is excessively variable 

 both in diversity of foliage and habit 

 but much more so in the fruit, which in 

 some varieties is no larger than an olive, 

 while in others it rivals the ponderous 

 fruits of the gourd (Cucurbita Maxima). 

 The fruit may be globular, ovoid, 

 spindle-shaped, or serpent like, netted 

 or smooth skinned, ribbed or furrowed, 

 various coloured externally, with white, 

 green, or orange flesh when ripe, scented 

 or scentless, sweet or insipid, bitter or 

 even nauseous. Hence it is said to be 

 " a most polymorphic species." It em- 

 braces all the numerous varieties of 

 pumpkin, squash, vegetable marrow, 

 gourds and melons. 



Cucurbitaceae embraces many vari- 

 eties which are used in medicine ; and 

 chief among these is the Colocynth 



gourd, about the size of an orange, or as 

 it is sometimes called, bitter apple, or 

 bitter cucumber. The Colocynth of 

 commerce is made from the dried pulp 

 of that gourd, which is grown in Asia, 

 Africa and Spain — the latter place sup- 

 plying the largest quantity to the trade. 



The species, Melon, of which we would 

 speak is not a disagreeable medicine, 

 but a delightful fruit, which is used in 

 large quantities in nearly all warm coun- 

 tries, and grown as an expensive luxury 

 by artificial means in the colder portions 

 of our earth. 



As already stated it came originally 

 from Asia. It is supposed to have been 

 brought from there to Rome in the i6th 

 century. The origin of some of the chief 

 modern races, such as the Cantaloup, 

 etc., and probably the netted sorts is 

 due to Persia and the neighboring Cau- 

 casian regions. It is supposed to have 

 been brought to America by Columbus 

 — so it should have become pretty well 

 naturalized during these four hundred 

 years. The date of its cultivation goes 

 away back almost to pre historic times. 

 It was one of the good things of Egypt 

 for which the Israelites mourned in the 

 wilderness. About 3400 years ago they 

 said : — " We remember the cucumbers 

 and the melons." 



The melons raised in this country 

 are chiefly of two kinds musk and 

 Water melons with many sub-varieties 

 of these. Probably the latter is more 

 largely grown, because of its good keep- 

 ing and shipping qualities ; and certainly 

 it is cooling and refreshing during the 

 warm weather. 



But we shall chiefly treat of the cul- 

 tivation of the Musk melon as it is by 

 far the finer of the two and perhaps 



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