436 THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Ice-cream, or Peerless, Water-Melon. --Fruit rounded, large, 

 often flattened at the ends ; skin thick, of a very pale green ; flesh 

 white and sweet ; seed white. 



Icing, Ice-rind, or Strawberry Water-Melon. A sub-variety 

 of the White-seeded Water-Melon, remarkable for the red colour 

 of the flesh of the fruit, which is of moderate size, very sweet, 

 melting, and agreeably perfumed. 



Mountain, or Mountain Sweet, Water-Melon. Fruit large, 

 elongated, oval, sometimes slightly contracted like a Gourd, and 

 without ribs ; skin marked with faint bands, some pale, others 

 darker in colour ; flesh red, entirely filling the fruit ; seed more or 

 less dark brown. A hardy and productive kind. 



Mountain Sprout Water-Melon. This variety comes ex- 

 ceedingly close, in every respect, to the preceding one, but is a 

 little later. 



Orange Water-Melon. Fruit medium-sized, oval ; skin smooth, 

 marbled with dark green on a paler green ground ; flesh red, tender, 

 and sweet. 



Rattlesnake Water-Melon. A fine form of the Black-seeded 

 Water-Melon. Fruit oblong, elongate, and of a uniform dark green 

 colour ; flesh very red. 



Round Light Icing, Ice-rind, Strawberry Water- Melon. 

 White-seeded, remarkable for the red colour of its flesh. Medium- 

 sized fruit, rounded ; flesh very sweet, pleasantly perfumed, and 

 melting. 



Dark Icing Water-Melon. Is a deeper green than the fore- 

 going and the Long Light Icing, or Gray Monarch ; has larger fruit. 



Sweet Heart Water-Melon. Fruit large, rounded or slightly 

 oblong ; skin pale green, with bands of deeper colour ; flesh red, 

 melting, and sweet. 



Many other varieties of Water-Melons might be mentioned, as 

 they are perhaps as numerous as those of Melons properly so 

 called ; but as this work is chiefly written for countries in which 

 the cultivation of Water-Melons seldom succeeds, we limit ourselves 

 to the number just described. 



MINT, or SPEARMINT 



Mentha viridis, L. Labiates. 



Menthe verte. 



Native of Europe. Perennial. A plant with a creeping root- 

 stock. Stem erect, with spreading branches at the top ; leaves 

 nearly sessile, lanceolate-acute, slightly rounded at the base, and 

 with distantly placed teeth on the edges ; flowers pink or lilac, in 

 cylindrical spikes ; seed very scanty, exceedingly fine, roundish, 

 brown. 



