NETTED MELONS 



419 



Moscatello Melon 

 ( natural size). 



Composite Melon. Fruit oblong, with prominent ribs and 



a thin rind, dark green in colour, almost entirely covered with 



network of medium thickness ; flesh red, firm, 



sweet, and well tasted. 



Melon de Coulommiers. Fruit large, ob- 

 long, with tolerably well-marked ribs, and very 



like the Honfleur Melon, of which it appears 



to be a sub-variety. A rather late kind. 



Melon d'Esclavonie. A very distinct 



variety, with large fruit of a long oval shape, 



rounded at both ends, and with a white, smooth, 



and rather thick skin ; flesh nearly white, sweet, 



but insipid. 



Mftlon de Langeais. A variety of the 



Paris Market Garden Melon, with oblong fruit, 



almost twice as long as broad ; ribs pretty well 



marked and very much netted, furrows smooth ; 



skin thin ; flesh red, watery, and rather insipid. 



Ripens half-late. 



Moscatello Melon. Fruit very long, and almost pointed at both 



ends ; ribs rather well marked, of a pale gray or silvery green, and 



very seldom netted ; flesh red, very juicy, and highly perfumed. 



Persian, or Odessa, Melon. 

 A rather vigorous plant, with 

 long and somewhat slender stems. 

 The fruit is devoid of ribs, very 

 much elongated, and narrowed to 

 a point at both ends, especially 

 at the stalk ends ; skin smooth, 

 very dark green, with yellow bands, 

 themselves spotted or striped with 

 green ; flesh very thick, almost 

 without any rind and almost en- 

 tirely filling the fruit, rather firm, 

 but very finely flavoured, juicy, 

 sweet, and highly perfumed. This 

 Melon requires a great deal of 

 heat, and seldom ripens very well 

 in northern countries. 



In Persia and Turkestan there 

 is a great number of varieties of 

 Melons which are highly esteemed 

 for their quality in those countries, 

 and of which travellers speak in 



terms of admiration. The climate must have a great deal to do 



with this, as the very same kinds, when grown in France, are 



Persian, or Odessa, Melon 

 ( natural size). 



