CHAPTER XXIV. 

 MELONS. 



THE MUSKMELON. Cucumis melo. 



French, melon ; German, melone ; Dutch, meloen ; Italian, popone ; 

 Spanish, melon ; Portuguese, melao. 



THE WATERMELON. Citrullus vulgaris. 



French, melon d'eau; German, wasser-melone ; Italian, cocomero; Span- 

 ish, sandia ; Portuguese, melamia. 



From the manner in which they are eaten melons should be 

 classed with fruits ; from the manner in which they are grown they 

 are more closely related to vegetables. Their nearest botanical rela- 

 tives, also, are of the vegetable class. They evidently cannot be ex- 

 cluded from this work because of their aspirations to rank with the 

 fruits. 



California is characteristically great for melons; not only for 

 their great size and excellence, but for the long season during which 

 they are available for table use. Their delight in interior heat, their 

 tolerance of drought, their immense size, when both heat and moist- 

 ure combine for their advancement, constitute exceptional adapta- 

 tions for semi-tropical climates, in which they have been famous 

 from the earliest times. California answers their needs to the full- 

 est degree, and they have naturally attained great local esteem and 

 popularity. The length of the frostless season, the different dates 

 of its beginning and the varying degrees of spring and summer heat 

 in different parts of the state give us command of early and late 

 melons beyond that of any other part of the country, as will be 

 noted presently. For this reason, California melons have during 

 the last decade, figured largely in national trade eastward and in 

 exports to northern Pacific ports. 



THE MUSKMELON. 



In the United States, the terms "muskmelon" and "cantaloupe" 

 are interchangeable, and in California cantaloupe is given the prefer- 



(229) 



