THE WATERMELON. 231 



melons from a single shipment. The great loss is not 

 under the head of specked or decayed (principally owing 

 to rough handling), 'but missing. The melon is not an 

 evanescent object which disappears without trace like ex- 

 ploded gun-cotton. 



A fair yield to the acre is one thousand melons, large 

 enough for shipment, or ranging from fifteen pounds up- 

 wards. In consequence of a disease which has been killing 

 the vines of late years, about the time the fruit is form- 

 ing, the crop more frequently falls below than exceeds 

 that number. I have examined the roots and vines in 



Fig. 65. WATERMELON " RATTLESNAKE. 



vain for insects, to account for this disease, and have not 

 yet been able to ascertain the cause. 



It is probably not attributable to an insect in the root, 

 like the larvae of the striped-bug in the cucumber, for 

 the disease sometimes first manifests itself in a single 

 side-runner. 



My melons sold the past season in the New York and 

 Boston markets at from twenty-five to fifty dollars per 

 hundred. .,.- 



VARIETIES. 



A variety to be fit for shipment should be large, with 

 a rind thick enough to carry well, should not " burn " or 

 become discolored in the field by the hot sun, and should 

 "cut" red throughout, without a lighter colored hard 



