CHAPTER I 

 HISTORY AND BOTANY OF THE MELON 



Both the muskmelon and the watermelon are 

 natives of tropical countries, where the muskmelon, 

 in particular, has been cultivated from the earliest 

 period of which we have any record. The musk- 

 melon is a native of southern Asia, where it was 

 known to and cultivated by the Israelites before the 

 time of Moses. During their travels through the 

 wilderness, where they were fed by the manna from 

 heaven, they became impatient and said to Moses, 

 " We remember the fish, which we did eat freely, 

 the cucumbers, and the melons." And Isaiah, in 

 speaking of the desolation of Judah, says, " The 

 daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in the vineyard, 

 as a lodge in the garden of cucumbers." 



It would seem from the foregoing that the cucum- 

 ber and the melon were cultivated together then 

 as now. Some writers, however, think that the 

 cucumbers mentioned were really melons, although 

 both are mentioned. It is very probable that in 

 those early times the names were used interchange- 

 ably, inasmuch as the two are so closely related. 

 From Asia the muskmelon was introduced into 

 Europe at about the beginning of the Christian era. 

 At about the same time the watermelon was brought 

 into Europe from the southern or central portion of 

 Africa, its native habitat, from whence it has kept 

 pace with the muskmelon in its journeys into all 

 of the tropical and semitropical countries of the civ- 

 ilized world. 



