THE WATER-MELON 541 



VALENCIA and the DAMPSHA are the three principal sorts ; they 

 are oval, skin netted, flesh white, sugary and good. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE WATER-MELON. 



Cucurbita citrullus, L. Cucurbitaceee, of botanists. 

 Pasteur, of the French ; Wasser Melone, German ; Cocomero, Italian. 



THE water-melon is a very popular and generally cultivated 

 fruit in this country. The vine is a training annual of the most 

 vigorous growth, and the fruit is very large, smooth, and green, 

 with a red or yellow core. Though far inferior to the melon 

 in richness, its abundant, cooling juice renders it very grateful 

 and refreshing in our hot midsummer days. Immense fields of 

 the water-melon are raised in New Jersey and Long Island, 

 and their culture is very easy throughout all the middle and 

 southern states. 



The cultivation of the water-melon is precisely similar to 

 that of the melon, except that the hills must be eight feet apart. 

 The finest crops we have ever seen, were grown upon old 

 pieces of rich meadow land, the sod well turned under with the 

 plough at the last of April, and the melons planted at once. 



The following are its best varieties. 



1. IMPERIAL. A remarkably fine flavoured and very pro- 

 ductive sort, from the Mediterranean. Fruit of medium size, 

 nearly round. Skin pale green and white, marbled, rind re- 

 markably thin, flesh solid to the centre, light red, crisp, rich, and 

 high flavoured. Seeds quite small, light brown. 



2. CAROLINA. The large common variety. Fruit very large, 

 oblong, skin dark green and white marbled, rind thick, flesh 

 deep red, hollow at the centre, sweet and good, seeds large 

 black. 



There is also a sub-variety with pale yellow flesh and white 

 seeds. 



3. SPANISH. A rich and very excellent water-melon. 

 Fruit large, oblong ; skin very dark blackish-green, slightly 

 marbled, rind moderately thick, flesh red, solid, rich, and very 

 sweet. 



THE CITRON WATER-MELON is a small, round, pale green, 

 marbled sort, ripening late, and esteemed by many for pre- 

 serving. 



