286 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



spherical, smooth, and of a fine s^olden colour. The 

 flesh is white, very sweet, and in consistency resem- 

 bling' the water-melon. The Salonica preserves its 

 qualities, though it is very large ; and with good 

 culture specimens may be had weighing seven or 

 eight pounds. 



The small Portugal is a very early and productive 

 melon, but not remarkable for flavour. The rock- 

 melons are thickly set with knobs ; they are of various 

 colours, and some of them of very fine flavour. The 

 oblong ribbed is marked into segments from the root 

 to the crown ; it is very productive ; and the flavour 

 is so high, that it is sometimes called, by way of 

 eminence, the musk-melon. 



The melons of Persia have long borne a high cha- 

 racter. " Persia," says Malte Brun, writing after 

 Chardin, Olivier, and Langles, " is consoled for 

 the occasional failure of her grain crop, by the fine- 

 ness of her fruits. There are twenty sorts of melons 

 — the finest in Khorassan. In Persia, this fruit is 

 extremely succulent, and contributes greatly to 

 health : they are sometimes so large that three or 

 four are a full load for a man." It was not till lately 

 that the seeds of melons were received here direct 

 from that country. In 1824, Mr. Willock, the Am- 

 bassador to the Court of Persia, sent a parcel of seed ; 

 and another parcel in the spring of 1S26. An account 

 often varieties of these melons, by Mr. Lindley, was 

 read before the Horticultural Society in September, 

 1826 ; and the individual fruits referred to were the 

 produce of the Society's garden that season. 



The Persian melons are extremely rich and sweet ; 

 and instead of the thick rind of the common melons, 

 they have a vei-y thin and delicate skin, which makes 

 a fruit of the same apparent size contain nearly twice 

 as much edible matter. In addition to this, the melons 

 are beautiful, and they bear abundantly ; but they 



