MUSKMELONS AND CANTALOUPS 207 



supply every individual in the United States with one melon each, 

 leaving fifteen more for each Calif ornian. 



THE MUSKMELON. 



In the United States the terms "muskmelon" and "cantaloup" 

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

 ence. This all seems somewhat at variance with European practice, 

 where the varieties with netted coats are "muskmelons" and those 

 with scabby or knobby skins are "rock melons" or cantaloups. Ac- 

 cording to this classification, the varieties we chiefly grow in Cali- 

 fornia are not cantaloups at all, but it will be difficult to have them 

 called by any other name. Of the many types of cantaloups which 

 have been defined by students of melon classification a single one, 

 known as the Rocky Ford, from the place of its first large com- 

 mercial development in Colorado, dominates all others, constituting 

 almost exclusively the commercial production except that which is 

 especially grown for local markets aside, of course, from the 

 winter melons, which are a distinct class, as will be noted later. 



The muskmelon has a very wide range in California. It has 

 greater taste for dry heat than its relative, the cucumber, but in 

 this respect it is no rival of the watermelon, for it will perish utterly 

 under drought which the watermelon will survive. Where the musk- 

 melon has both heat and moisture, and is of large variety, it grows 

 riotously, for a weight of seventy-two pounds has been reported 

 from Fresno. But the muskmelon will not brook frost, nor will it 

 thrive with low temperatures even if they are considerably above 

 freezing. As has just been stated, however, California has such 

 a long frost-free period and as degtees of favoring heat arrive in 

 different months in different parts of the state, there is wide diverg- 

 ence in dates of planting and of ripening of the crop. The earliest 

 cantaloup district is the Coachella and Imperial valleys in the ex- 

 treme southeast corner of the state, where 12,700 acres were grown 

 in 1917. Planting is done in February, and the crop shipment 

 begins in May and reaches the eastern markets in advance of the 

 product of Colorado and other interior states. In the San Joaquin 

 valley planting may be in April and the product follows the Rocky 

 Ford shipments for the later summer trade of the Atlantic cities. 

 Just what trade can be profitably done at different dates in the East 

 is not fully determined, but the advantage of the very early canta- 

 loup from (California seems unquestioned. It is clear, however, 

 that by choosing different parts of the state and different varieties 

 of cantaloups, including the "winter melon" class, California can 

 furnish the fruit from May to December in any quantities the 

 available price makes profitable. 



Garden Culture. The soil^-equirements of the muskmelon are 

 quite like those already described for the cucumber. Most of the 

 commercial crop is produced on deep, rich, warm loams, but heavier 

 soils with good culture may be used. Some varieties seem to enjoy 



