1968 



WATERMELON 



WATERMELON 



There is probably no country in which the Watermelon 

 is grown to such a large extent as in the United States. 

 All the central and southern states can grow Water- 

 melons to perfection, and there are some of the short- 

 season varieties that thrive well as far north as Ontario. 

 It is always important that light and "quick" soils be 

 selected for the Watermelon, but this is particularly 

 true in the northern part of the country, since the plants 

 must secure a very early start and grow rapidly in 

 order to mature in the short seasons. It is probable 

 that a well-matured Watermelon raised in the North has 

 as good quality as one grown in the South. Some 

 persons believe that seeds from melons grown for 

 several generations in the North give earlier and better 

 results in the North than southern-grown seeds; but 

 the subject yet needs further experiment. However, 

 the Watermelon is generally not so adaptable to the 

 northern parts of the country as the muskmelon is, and is 

 not so largely grown. The Watermelon can be so cheaply 

 grown in the South and the West, and it transports so 

 readily, that there is practically no Watermelon growing 

 for profit in the northern states. Nearly every home 

 garden can grow its own supply. The seeds may be 

 sown directly in the open ground; or, in the northern 

 sections, it is better to start them indoors in transplant- 

 ing boxes or on sods, as explained under Muskmelon 

 and Transplanting. It is well, also, in the northern 

 states, to use rather freely of some quickly available 

 fertilizer in the hill, in order to start the plants off 

 early. If the lands are loose and leachy and likely to 

 dry out, or, on the other hand, if they are hard and 

 tend to become lumpy, it is well to make "hills" by 

 mixing one or two large shovelfuls of manure with the 

 earth; but it is important that this manure be short 

 and well rotted and then very thoroughly mixed with 

 the soil. If the manure is coarse and not well in- 

 corporated with the soil, the hill is likely to dry out and 

 the fertilizing elements are usually so tardily available 

 that the plant does not get a quick start. The smaller- 

 growing varieties may be planted as close as 6 x 8 feet, 

 but it is customary not to plant them closer than 8 feet 

 either way. In the South, where general field practice 

 is employed, the melons are usually planted about 

 10 feet apart. The flea beetle and the striped cucumber 

 beetle are likely to be serious on the young plants. 

 Hand-picking and thorough spraying with Bordeaux 

 mixture and Paris green are the most available 

 remedies. In the northeastern states, the Georgia 

 Watermelon is chiefly known, although nearly all parts 

 of the South grow the melon with satisfaction. Lately 

 very large melon industries have developed in Colo- 

 rado. A very large part of the United States is really 

 well adapted to the commercial growing of the Water- 

 melon. 



The common Watermelons are used as dessert fruits. 

 However, there is a race of hard-fleshed very firm 

 melons that are used for the making of preserves (Fig. 

 2720). Since these are used for the same purposes as 

 the true citron of commerce, they are commonly known 

 as citrons. They come true from seed. l H. B. 



Watermelon Culture in Georgia. —The Watermelon is 

 the only important fruit or vegetable that has no valu- 

 able by-products. Its saccharine matter cannot be 

 profitably converted into sugar. Its enormous reservoir 

 of juice or sap refuses to be turned into vinegar or 

 ■wine, as putrefactive instead of acetic or alcoholic 

 fermentation results. For this reason, also, it does not, 

 like the cantaloupe, produce a good brandy when dis- 

 tilled. Its substance cannot be successfully used in 

 animal nutrition — serving, at best, as a mere diuretic or 

 digestive. 



Habitat and Distribution.— Throughout the entire 

 tertiary region of the Atlantic and Gulf states, from the 

 seacoast to a curved line marked by the Piedmont 

 Escarpment which sweeps diagonally southwest from 

 Richmond to Vicksburg on the Mississippi — throughout 

 this vast area— "the land of the long-leaf pine" (and of 

 the wiregrass)— the Watermelon flourishes unrivaled, 

 attaining there its serenest, fullest perfection. And of 

 this area Georgia in particular is noted as producing 

 not only the bulk of the crop shipped to northern trade 

 centers, but the choicest selection as well. 



To a certain limit perfection in the melon is found' 

 to directly parallel latitude — regulated and modified, 

 of course, by the corrections imposed by isotherms, 

 geological formation and local conditions and environ- 

 ment. Every mile traveled southward from New Eng- 

 land toward this limit, which corresponds, practically, 

 to the boundary between Georgia and Florida on the 

 Atlantic slope and to the Brazos river in Texas, the 

 possibilities of the melon enlarge — its size improves, its- 

 sugar content increases, its flavor refines and intensi- 

 fies. Beyond the limit southward, deterioration again 

 begins, progressing with even greater rapidity than in 

 the opposite direction, or northward from the climactic 

 or focal "line of perfection;" so it happens that the 

 melon of extreme South Florida or of the Rio Grande^ 

 country is little if any superior to its colder and more 

 impassive sister of New Jersey or Long Island. In this, 

 the melon but follows a fixed morphological rule, prom- 

 inently emphasized by many familiar products of the 

 garden and orchard. 



The "line of perfection" referred to — which, indeed, 

 is ultimately reducible to a focal "point" of perfection 

 — is, like the center of population, liable to change as 

 conditions and methods vary or improve under local 

 development. At present this point or center may per- 

 haps be located with more reason at Valdosta, in South 

 Georgia, near the Florida line, than anywhere else. 

 Augusta, however, in eastern Georgia, was formerly 

 considered the great center of southern melon produc- 

 tion—its very "throne of empire"— and was, for many 

 years, noted for shipping the largest, choicest and most 

 succulent specimens found in the markets of the North 

 and West. 



Varieties.— Twenty years ago, and for many years 

 previous, the tempting if rather startling announce- 

 ment, "Augusta Rattlesnakes" could be seen invitingly 

 placarded over every progressive ice-dealer's door in all 

 of the big cities of the land. Then crept in the "Kolb. 

 Gem," an Alabama product, somewhat superseding, 

 though not displacing the famed "Rattlesnake" as & 

 market favorite, and the public began to prefer the 

 round to the oblong form, though still partial to the 

 "striped rind." 



In ante-bellum days, besides the Rattlesnake only two 

 varieties obtained general recognition at the South for 

 excellence — the Lawton and Cuba melons, with their 

 evolved offspring— the former dark green, the latter 

 belonging to the white or gray type ( pale green rind 

 with delicate, darker green tracery) but both of them 

 of oblong shape. These were in great measure gradually 

 displaced by the Georgia (or Augusta) Rattlesnake, and 

 it, as stated, was in turn forced to partially yield prec- 

 edence to the Kolb Gem. The round or ovoid form 

 became fully established in public favor by the later 

 advent of the "Jones " type, which soon dominated the 

 market, its refreshing dark green color proving par- 

 ticularly attractive. Selections of this strain, culminat- 

 ing with Duke Jones, Lord Bacon and others, have 

 finally brought the melon up to its highest perfection, 

 though the Girardeau innovations from Florida, such as 

 Florida Favorite, New Favorite and Triumph, still con- 

 test their supremacy, while the older standards, as 

 Rattlesnake, Sugarloaf, Sheephead, Scalybark and the 

 like are by no means "back numbers." 



Nor have the North and West been altogether idle in 

 the work of development, many of the best of the recent 

 introductions and some of the older strains coming 

 from these sections. Indiana, for instance, gives us 

 Sweetheart and Hoosier King; Cuban Queen, Delaware 

 and Boss come from the Middle States; while Virginia 

 contributes Jordan Gray Monarch. 



Many points combine to form the ideal melon. The 

 scale of excellence for the southern type is probably 

 about as follows: 



Per oent 



Shipping capacity 35 



Size 25 



Productiveness 15 



Quality 10 



Earliness 8 



Shape 4 



Color of flesh 2 



Color of rind, or marking ] 



Total 100 



