MELON 



MKLOTHRIA 



2033 



adapted for shipmont but arc ideal for Ikiiiic vise. Tlie 

 coimnerciiil melon is one that has good shipping (pial- 

 itv, a firm not too thin rind, of a variety in wliich the 

 nu'lons run uniform in size, and of a weight ranging 

 from twenty to thirty pounds. The variety must also 

 be productive, of fair (]uality, and medium early. A 

 few sorts worth)' of a jilaee in the garden for home use 

 are Mclver, Florida Favorite, Kleckley 8weets, Brad- 

 ford, Long White Icing, anil .Sugar Loaf. Those most 

 popular as shipping melons are Kolb Gem, Duke Jones, 

 Pride of Georgia, or Jones, Mammoth Ironclad, and 

 Di.\ie. 



Sectl-produclion. 



The production of seed has been largely confined to 

 the new prairie breakings of western Kansas and 

 Oklahoma, where a crop can bo grown very cheaply. 

 It is interesting to note that the wild animals, notably 

 coyotes, often destroy a planting, so that few fruits are 

 left for seed. The melons grown for .seed are pulped 

 in machines de\'ised for the purpose. These machines 

 separate the rind and pulp from the seeds and juice. 

 The mass of seeds and juice is allowed to ferment for 

 one or a few days, when the seed is washed and spread 

 on wire screens for drying. When the seed is thoroughly 

 dry it should be rim through a fanning-mill to tlrive 

 off melon fragments and light seed, when it is ready for 

 market. A crop of seed is rarely planted by a farmer 

 without a contract with a seedsman, who agrees to 

 take all or part of the crop at a stipulated price. 



In practically all sections of the Unites States where 

 field corn can be successfully grown, the watermelon 

 can be depended upon to mature a crop sufficient to 

 justify including it in the home-garden. WMle it can 

 be grown on a wide variety of soils by giving them 

 special preparation, it nevertheless grows best on rich 

 sandy, or loamy soils. The prairie soils of the corn-belt 

 as well as the glacial-drift soils of New York can be 

 successfully used for the garden culture of the crop. 



The watermelon is tender to frost, and a-s it makes its 

 most rapid growth during the warm season, it should 

 not be planted in cold soil or before the danger of frosts 

 has passed. A safe rule for most sections is to plant ten 

 days to two weeks later than com. 



The few hills of watermelons necessary to supply 

 the needs of the average family should be prepared 

 with special care. The seed-bed should be deep and 

 the hills fertilized with manure or compost which will 

 tend to accelerate the growth of the plants. No better 

 use of hog- or chicken-manure can be made than in the 

 preparation of a compost for watermelons. The hills 

 should be given ample distance — 7 or 8 feet each way — 

 and the seeds should be scattered ten or twelve over 

 an area about 1 foot square, and covered with about 

 1 inch of soil. 



The young plants will require protection from 

 insects; the use of mosquito-netting, before noted, 

 will prove as inexpensive and as effective as any 

 method yet devised. 



.\fter all danger of losing the stand of plants, either 

 by frost or pests, has pa-ssed, the population of each 

 hill should be reduced to three or four of the most 

 vigorous plants. From this period on, care to prevent 

 weed-grf)wth should give satisfactory results providing 

 a sort adapted to the region and to home use has been 

 chosen. L. C. Corbett. 



MELON, Papaw: Carica Papaya, M. Shrub: Solarium murica- 

 tum. Chinese Preserving M. : Benincasa, 



MELOTHRIA (probably a name for a bryony-like 

 plant; mdnn is Greek for apple, which may refer to the 

 shape of the fruit). Cucurhilacea!. Slender herbaceous 

 vines, climbing or trailing, annual or perennial, with 

 small yellow or white flowers and .sometimes attractive 

 little fruits, found in warmer j)arts of the world. 



Plants with simple tendrils at the axils and verj- 



129 



small mona'cious, did-i'ious or polyg.amous fls., the 

 sterile usually in corvinlis or racemes, the fertile solitary 

 and often slender-stalked: Ivs. entire, lobed or divided: 

 fls. white or yellow; sepals .5; corolla ."i-lobed, camjjanu- 

 late; stamens in sterile fls. .3 or .5, more or less connate 

 by the anthers, in the fertile fls. reduced to rudiments: 

 fr. a small pulpy pendulous berry, with usually many 

 flat horizontal seeds. — Species perhaps 70, widely dis- 

 tributed, a few of them native from Pa. and Fla. to 

 Texas. 



Four kinds appear to be in the trade, M. scabra, 

 M. japonica, M. madiraxpatana and M. punctata, the 

 last being perhaps the best . These are slender but rapid- 

 growing half-hardy annual climbers, which may be 

 grown indoors in winter, but preferably outdoors in 

 siunmer for covering unsightly objects. They are 

 attractive in fruit. 



Cogniaux (in DC. Mon. Phan., Vol. 3, 1881) makes 

 three sections of the genus. A/, scabra, M. pendula, and 

 M. japonica, belong to the first, M. punctata to the 

 second, and M. maderaspatana to the third. M. punc- 

 tata has sensitive tendrils. 



Section I. Eumelothria. Fls. usually monoecious, 

 males mostly racemose and females solitary; anthers 

 subsessile: fr. mostly with long and slender peduncles; 

 seeds usually not margined and smooth. 



Section II. Solena. Fls. mostly dioecious, males 

 corjinbose; anthers borne on rather long filaments, the 

 connective not produced: fr. mostly short-peduncled ; 

 seetls mostly margined and smooth. 



Section III. Mukia. Fls. monoecious, males clus- 

 tered and females solitary; anthers subsessile, the con- 

 nective apiculate: fr. subsessile; .seeds margined, usually 

 pitted. 



scabra, Naudin. Sts. more or less hairy: Ivs. rigid, 

 ovate-oblong or somewhat triangular-hastate, acute or 

 short-acimiinate, scabrous: tendrils filifonn, short: fls. 

 small, the masculine racemes .5-7-fld. and equaling the 

 petiole; anthers roundish, with a wide connective, the 

 cells straight, not plicate: fr. ovoid or ovoid-oblong, 

 obtuse, .3-celled, rather large (1 in. long, ,'2111. thick), 

 with broad paraOel stripes of white and green. Mex. 

 R.H. 1901, p. 43. 



pendula, Linn. Creeping or scandent, much-branched 

 root-perennial, the st. glabrous and shining: Ivs. sub- 

 orbicular-cordate, acute or obtuse, hirsute becoming 

 scabrous, often deeply .5-lobed, the lobes obtuse: male 

 racemes 3-7-fld., usually shorter than the petioles; 

 corolla yellow, the segms. obovate: fr. ellipsoid, to ' ^in- 

 long, the seeds obovate and whitish. Pa. to Fla. and 

 La. and Mex. — M. ptridula, M. scabra and M. punctata 

 may be confused in horticultural literature. 



japonica, Maxim. Lvs. ovate - triangular, emargi- 

 nate at b.ase, scabrous above, nearly smooth beneath, 

 entire or shallowly 3-lobed: male fls. solitary; anthers 

 suborbicular, not appendaged at apex: fr. ovoid-sub- 

 globose, the seeds usually marginless. Japan. 



punctata, Cogn. (Brybnia punctata, Thunb. Zeh- 

 ncria scabra, Sond. Pildgyne suatns, Schrad.). Sts. 

 glabrous at maturity, angled: lvs. membranous, cor- 

 date, angled or slightly 3-.5-lobed, white-spotted and 

 somewhat scabrous above, pilose, short-hairy or sca- 

 bnms below, margin remotely denticulate: fr. browTi, 

 lightly pitted, about 3 lines thick; seeds small, about 2 

 lines long, strongly compressed. S. Afr. R.H. 1900, p. 

 Otil. — Intro. 1S90 by Henderson & Co. as the oak- 

 leaved climber. Melothria punctata is a Ijeautiful climb- 

 ing herbaceous perennial, better known as Piloqyne 

 sunns, and sometimes called Zehneria suai'is. Even 

 when protected, it is too tender to stand the northern 

 winters. It blooms in clusters; fls. .sm.all, white and 

 star-shaped, with a strong nnisk fragrance: lvs. green, 

 small and glo.ssy. Being a very rapid grower, it is 

 desirable for covering verandiis or for house cult. It 



