GROWING MUSKMELONS IN THE NORTH 



F. WM. RANE 



I. INTRODUCTION 



All things considered, there is probably nothing grown in the 

 garden that equals the muskmelon as a delicacy. The fruit 

 has been grown from a very early date, and is supposed to be a 

 native of the hotter parts of Asia, whence it has been intro- 

 duced all over the world. Writers tell us that in some parts of 

 the Orient, where the melon grows readily in the open air, it 

 forms one of the chief articles of food.^ In England the melon 

 is very highly prized as a dessert fruit. It is, however, com- 

 paratively a luxury, glass houses or frames with artificial heat 

 being necessary for success with it. In this country, owing to 

 our vast range of climatic conditions, it has become, through 

 continuous breeding, adaptable to a wide range of territory. 



In the more temperate regions the area devoted to it is so 

 large that in season, such markets as that of Baltimore handle 

 daily trainloads of this fruit. In 1894 ^^^^ writer visited the 

 market just named. It was about eight o'clock in the morning, 

 and although they had been unloading since daylight, they were 

 still busily engaged. Boats of all sizes, — sloops, cat-boats, 

 pungies, etc., — 103 in number, were lying at the wharves, all 

 heavilv laden and waiting their turn for unloading. Across the 

 street fully two hundred teams were also waiting to dispose of 

 their fruit. At the commission houses the melons were sorted 

 and crated in boxes, barrels, or one-half bushel baskets for 

 shipment. The melon is largely grown in New Jersey, Dela- 

 ware and Maryland, throughout the Ohio and Mississippi val- 



^Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening. 



