VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 59 



MELON. 



Like all plants of the cucurbitaceous family, melons are susceptible to 

 frost, and require rich, warm, and thoroughly well-drained soil. 



Soil and situations favourable to the production of maize will suit melons 

 admirably. They also do pretty well on sandstone ridges, but their culture 

 in such places should be limited to domestic purposes. Where melons are 

 grown for market they should be planted in the open, where they can at all 

 times during the earlier stages of growth, receive cultural treatment in the 

 way of checking of weeds and conservation of moisture. 



Owing to the ease with which all plants of this family are cross-fertilised 

 at the flowering stage by the agency of bees and other insects, it is difficult 

 to maintain purity if more than one variety is grovn. 



Water-melons. For market purposes melons of fair size, with firm flesh and 

 good keeping qualities are preferred. The best-known varieties possessing 

 hese qualifications are Tom Watson, Cuban Queen, Ice Cream, Kolb's Gem, 

 and Kleckley Sweets. 



Rock Melons. Many of the most delicately-fleshed rock melons are bad 

 carriers. Elongated, delicate varieties are not as profitable for market 

 purposes as the globular-shaped, firm-fleshed types, of which the most popular 

 are Rocky Ford (or Netted Gem), Hackensack Early, Fordhook, and Spicy 

 Cantaloupe. 



Preserving Melons. There are a number of varieties of preserving or pie 

 melons which are in considerable demand for jam-making, and also for juicy 

 stand-by fodder, Citron being a well-known and generally approved variety. 

 Large overgrown specimens are not as suitable as the medium sized for jam 



Cultivation of the Water-melon. 



It is important in connection with melon culture that planting should 

 be early, more especially where melons are being grown for commercial 

 purposes, so that the fruit shall be available at the season when it is most 

 desirable -the height of summer. 



Various devices are adopted for germinating the seeds early and ensuring 

 that the young plants shall suffer no check when being set out. Some 

 successful growers collect old jam and other tins, and after melting off the 

 tops and bottoms, arrange them, filled with fine mould, in shallow boxes or 

 trays. A couple of melon seeds are sown in each tin very early in the season, 

 and the boxes are placed in some warm and sheltered place. By the time, 

 the season is sufficiently advanced to permit of safe planting in the open the 

 plants are a fair size, and can be readily set out. With a little cafe the tins 

 can be slipped off without interfering with the roots. 



A variation of this system is in use in parts of the United States, where 

 the seed is sown in what are , descriptively called "dirt bands." Thin strip g 

 of waol venesr, 3 inches wids and 18 inches long, are scored at intervals of 

 1 in^Vm. so that they cm b3 bant witho it breaking, and are folded into 



