152 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



in the hand, it will be found to separate readily from the stem. 

 No melon to which the stem adheres, or from which it has 

 been separated by force or by the knife, is worth eating. 



The melon-patch should be looked over every day about 

 noon, and the fruit then gathered be kept to cool and mature 

 for next day's use. If, from previous neglect, the fruit is be- 

 coming yellow, it should be cooled and eaten the same day. 

 It is a cooling and slightly restringent fruit, and, if ripe and 

 fresh, can not be eaten to excess. 



WATERMELON. 

 French, Melon d'eau. German, Wasser-melone. Spanish, Melon de agua. 



CAROLINA. SPANISH. LONG ISLAND. EARLY APPLE-SEED. 

 ORANGE. CITRON, &C. 



BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 



Plant in hills six feet apart, enriched with compost, or in 

 very rich warm soil, five or six seeds in a hill, an inch deep. 

 When well up, thin to the three best plants. Hoe often, gradu- 

 ally hilling up until the vines touch, and after the young fruit 

 appears cut off the extreme ends of the most luxuriant shoots. 



Time : about ten days after corn-planting. 



There is not much variety in the character of ordinary wa- 

 termelons, except as they may be adapted to or affected by the 

 climate in which they are raised. Fruits essentially Southern 

 can not be expected to attain perfection in a northern latitude. 



Of the above named kinds, it is better, therefore, at the 

 North to choose the Long Island or the early apple-seeded va- 

 rieties than to risk disappointment by planting those which in 

 suitable locations would grow larger and richer. 



The orange watermelon is a recent variety, of excellent qual- 

 ity and peculiar habit, the inside of the fruit separating read- 

 ily from the rind like an orange, whence its name. 



The " citron" is almost solid and tasteless, and is used only 

 for making preserves a mere vehicle for the exhibition of 

 sugar and various flavorings. 



Their culture is the same as for muskmelon, ivhich see. 



