QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 7 



four times as long. They contain very few seeds, and are quite free from 

 that property which to some people is so poisonous. 



33. Q. How should I plant cantaloupes ? Cantaloupes. 

 Cantaloupes or citron melons, as they are termed in Jersey, do well 



upon sod ground or upon land prepared for planting by plowing down a 

 crop of winter wheat or winter rye, the sod or grass aerating or lieeping 

 loose the soil. 



The seed is planted at about corn-seeding time or when the apple is in 

 bloom, in hills about four and a half feet in each direction. Two shovels- 

 ful of well-rotted stable manure being trampled into each hill and covered 

 with earth. The large long melons, like the Reedland Qiant and Casaba, 

 are generally sold by the hundred ; melons of the ordinary form and size 

 are sold by the basket of one-half to five-eighths bushel capacity. Phila- 

 delphia commission merchants pay as a highest price $1.50 to $3.00 per 

 bushel. As an average price forty to fifty cents per bushel. Cantaloupe 

 melons are frequently a drug in the market. 



34. Q. Why do some people use the word musk melon (corrupted to Mask Melon. 

 mush melon) cantaloupe, nutmeg and citron, as applied to the same fam- 

 ily of vine fruits ? 



A. (1). Musk melons as originally known were long, large-fruited, 

 smooth-skinned, soft-fleshed, very aromatic and often of a sickening 

 sweetness. 



(3). Cantaloupes as at first distinguished were large, rough and irreg- 

 ular in form, often deeply ribbed and covered more or less with warts, the 

 skin sometimes slightly netted, and at other times entirely without net- 

 ting. Cantaloupes like musk melons are frequently inclined to crack at 

 the ends. 



(3). Citron melons are of a later introduction. In form, they vary from 

 flat and round to ovoid, slightly ribbed, generally netted, the flesh per- 

 fumed, the seed small. 



The term nutmeg was originally applied to citron melons of oval form Nutmeg, 

 slightly larger at one end than the other, like the nutmeg of commerce. 

 Among the New Jersey market gardeners the expression, cantaloupe or 

 musk melon, is never used. They always speak of citrons. 



35. Q. When should I plant watermelon seed ? Seeding. 

 A. When the black Walnut is in one-inch leaf, plant melons. 



36. Q. How should I plant watermelons ? Watermelons 

 A. Watermelons do well upon sod ground or upon land prepared for their 



reception by plowing down a crop of winter wheat or winter rye, the sod 

 or grain aerating or keeping loose the soil. When the apple is in bloom 

 the seed is planted in hills at ten feet apart in each direction. Two large 

 shovelfuls of well-rotted stable manure dug and trampled into each hill 

 and covered with earth. 



The cultivator should be prepared with quite four pounds of seed to the 

 acre, that he may have a reserve for replanting in case of destruction of 

 his plants by insect depredations or beating rains. 



