236 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



THE WATERMELON. 



The watermelon is more strictly a warm region plant than the 

 muskmelon. It reaches greatest size and sweetness in interior 

 regions of highest heat, coming nearer to the coast in southern 

 California than in the upper part of the state. The heat is, how- 

 ever, high enough in some of the coast valleys and foothills, which 

 are in some parts separated from the coast by high ranges, to pro- 

 duce a very good watermelon. 



The gratefulness of the interior climate of California to the 

 watermelon is seen in the way the plants volunteer wherever on 

 cultivated land a melon may have gone to decay. In cultivated 

 orchard they may almost be called weeds, though sometimes the 

 volunteer crop is turned to account. A case is cited where water- 

 melons were planted between the trees in a young orchard. After 

 the melons were harvested, and before the volunteer crop appeared 

 the following year, the ground was plowed twice, harrowed twice, 

 and cultivated four times in the regular course of orchard work. 

 Notwithstanding all this disturbance of the soil, the seeds, which 

 remained in the ground during the warm rains of winter and spring, 

 did not sprout until June considerably later than seed sown that 

 year, and produced as good a crop as the latter. Being, probably, 

 deeply covered they awaited the penetration of the warmth, which 

 came first to the seed sown near the surface. The soil was a light 

 loam, naturally well drained, and the seed abided its time in good 

 condition. 



Soils. Soils which best suit the watermelon are warm allu- 

 vial soils, and the plant thrives on a lighter, drier soil than suits 

 the muskmelon. It does well on a light soil with a retentive sub- 

 soil, which acts as a reservoir of moisture. In such a case the surface 

 soil may be coarse or even gravelly. Good specimens have been 

 shown which have been grown without irrigation on recent deposits 

 of mining detritus ; on the other hand, good melons are grown on 

 rather stiff clay loam. On heavy land much is gained by plowing 

 under a winteivgrown sod or green crop, or a covering of manure, 

 which renders the soil more permeable as well as enriches it. The 

 plant seems to tolerate many conditions, but neither cold not wet 

 agrees with it. 



Culture. The preparation of land for watermelons is like that 

 for sugar beets, already described. In regions of heavy rainfall the 

 fall plowing should be done with enough dead furrows to remove 



