60 THE SEED-GROWER. 



MELON. 



The same general directions which have been given 

 for producing cucumber seed, will apply for a crop of 

 melon seed. The same care must be exercised to pre- 

 vent mixture of varieties; all sorts of muskmelon will 

 mix with each other, or they will mix with pomegran- 

 ate, snake cucumber or with vegetable peach; water- 

 melons will mix with each other or with preserving 

 citron. 



In the Northern States, seed should be sown about 

 May 20th; muskmelon in hills three feet each way, 

 watermelons six feet each way; eight to ten seeds in a 

 hill, thinning out to two plants in a hill. Good culti- 

 vation is necessary. 



Extracting and Cleaning Seeds. Melons for seed 

 should be perfectly ripe. The same processes given for 

 cucumber, to which chapter refer, will apply for ex- 

 tracting and cleaning melon seeds, except that large 

 watermelons must be cut in half to go into the machine 

 for crushing; the same machine used for cucumbers 

 may be used for melons. 



Fermentation For musk melon, it should not 

 exceed three days; for watermelon, it usually takes 

 longer than for cucumber, or until the pulp separates 

 from the seed. 



For Stock Seeds and Seeds for Private Use. 

 Select the earliest, the handsomest formed and finest 

 flavored perfectly ripe melons, which are true to variety. 



Market. Upwards of 600,000 pounds of melon seeds 

 are planted annually in the United States, two-thirds of 

 which are the water variety, the other portion the musk 

 or cantaloupe. These seeds are all produced in this 

 country, by growers in nearly every State from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. The most extensive commercial 



