CUCUMIS 



MELO 



Melon 



THE MELON 



The Sarda 

 Melon of 

 Kabul. 



Safedah 

 Melon of 

 Lucknow. 



Cultivation 

 for Pood. 



Floating 

 Gardens. 



Oil. 



Medicine. 



Tests. 



Phut and 

 Kachra. 



five sorts spoken of in the Ain-i-Akbari (Bloclimann, transl., 65) were Indian; 

 all are stated to have come from Badakshan or Kabul. Linschoten ( Voy. E. Ind. 

 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 35) observes that the Indian melons are not so good as those 

 of Spain, and have to be eaten with sugar. Tavernier speaks of the Indian 

 melons as grown from Persian seed. Firminger (Man. Gard. Ind. (ed. Cameron), 

 1904, 225-9) mentions several kinds of melons as specially excellent. The 

 best or first class is the sarda, a native of Kabul, which does not succeed in 

 India ; the second is also a Kabul melon successfully grown in India. Aitchison 

 (Prod. W. Afghan, and N.E. Persia, 48-9 ; Kew Bull., 1894, 75) is of opinion 

 that the sarda failed because it was not understood. The early supply .con- 

 sists of ordinary good melons, but the later, when ripened with frost, is the 

 sarda proper. It is covered over and left to mature slowly. Some sarda melons 

 sent to Kew in 1894 arrived in excellent condition, and from the seed thus 

 obtained good fruits were grown at the Royal Gardens at Frogmore and else- 

 where. It is believed that sarda melons might be exported to Europe, where 

 they would fetch good prices as whiter fruits. The third and perhaps the 

 finest of the Indian melons is the safedah or white melon of Lucknow, which 

 is grown in sandy loam along the banks or in the dry beds of the Gumti. It is 

 the size of a very large orange, flattened at both ends and white inside and out. 

 It would appear, however, that so far back as 1866 the Lucknow melon had been 

 allowed seriously to deteriorate, so that perhaps its present condition might 

 be considerably improved. In The Indian Agriculturist (June 12, 1866) Dr. 

 E. Bonavia gave an interesting account of this deterioration, and urged that 

 efforts should be made to improve the stock of the "chitla" or "speckled" 

 melon of Lucknow. 



The Melon from an agricultural point of view is the most important species 

 of the genus OK-IUHI.V, and is extensively cultivated for its fruits on the sandy 

 banks of Indian rivers. So soon as the water has fallen from the white sandy 

 banks of the Ganges and Jumna, for example, pits are dug and filled with manure 

 within which the melon-seed is deposited. These pits act as forcing-beds and 

 are protected against sand-drift by grass and thorn hedges constructed around 

 them. Less manure is required when the silt of the river is of fairly rich quality 

 and contains organic matter. Sometimes, as at Ahmedabad, the plants are sown 

 in trenches instead of pits. They continue to fruit as a rule from April until 

 the rising of the water in June overwhelms and destroys them. A popular 

 account of the Indian melons may be found in Indian Planting and Gardening 

 (Oct. 3, 1904), and interesting descriptions of the growth of melons on the floating 

 gardens of Kashmir are given by Moorcroft (Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind. Trans., i., 70), 

 by Rivett (Assess. Rept. Mir Bahri, 1898, 16), and by Lawrence (Valley of 

 Kashmir, 345-8). 



The flattened and elliptic seeds yield a sweet edible OIL. Semler says the 

 quantity they contain is about 30 per cent, and that a considerable trade in it 

 exists from the Chinese port of Chef oo. It is a light thin oil, which dries slowly 

 and in addition to being eaten is employed in the soap industry. According to 

 Semler a considerable quantity was formerly exported from Sierra Leone and 

 Lagos, but the low prices offered have killed the trade (Trop. Agrik., 1900, 

 ii., 525). The seeds are also used as a cooling MEDICINE, though it is doubtful 

 if those of the various species are distinguished. In fact the seeds of c. _w<>/o 

 are commonly sold all over India as a cooling medicine in admixture with those 

 of C. Jfelo, uar. utilisttimn, Senincntta cerifera and Citi-tilltix inilf/tn-in. Melon- 

 seeds are also commonly used as a flavouring ingredient bhang-massala. [Of. 

 Cannabis sativa, p. 258.] 



Pests. Particulars of the cultivation of Afghan and Baluch melons in the 

 Lower Provinces, together with a description of the life history of the trouble- 

 some melon-fly, may be found in Jas. Cleghorn's most useful paper (Journ. 

 Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., n.s., 1891, ix., 63-82). The melon is also attacked, like 

 other cucurbitaceous fruits, by a small red beetle. [Cf. Ind. Mus. Notes, i., pt. ii,, 

 92-3 ; iii., pt. v., 57-8 ; iv., pt. i., 32-4, pt. ii., 92-3.] The wood-a'sh preven- 

 tative, usually adopted by the Natives, must be detrimental, and probably a muslin 

 frame would be found more effective, since only the young seedlings suffer as 

 a rule. 



(a) var. Momordiea, ffoxb., sp. ; Duthie and Fuller, I.e. 50, pi. xlix. ; Banerjei, 

 Agri. Cuttack, 1893, 116. The phut or phunt, phuti, kachra (unripe), tuti, kakari-kai, 

 pedda-kai, thakhwa hmwey, etc. Mentioned as phooth in the Taleef Shereef, and 

 according to Dutt has a Sanskrit name, ervaru. Although now reduced by 



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