VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 247 



them to twelve or fifteen inches apart, or transplant them 

 that distance, if more plants are desired. Water until estab- 

 lished. The flowers, during the summer, must be gather- 

 ed, dried thoroughly in the shade, a'nd put up in paper 

 bags. Leave a few fine flowers for seed. The darkest 

 colored ones are the best. The flower is a valuable ingre- 

 dient in soups. The plant is now but little used. 



MELON. (Cucumis Melo.) 



The melon, or musk-melon, is a tender, trailing annual, 

 of the same family as the cucumber, squash, etc. It is sup- 

 posed to be from Persia, but has been cultivated in all 

 warm climates so long, that it is difficult to assign, with 

 certainty, its native country. It has been cultivated in 

 Southern Europe at least four hundred years. It is the 

 richest and most delicious of all herbaceous fruits. In 

 England its culture is a difficult and expensive process, 

 but in this country the most luscious melons are raised 

 almost without trouble. 



Melons may be arranged in two classes, the green-fleshed 

 and the scarlet-fleshed, the colors of the latter shading 

 through orange to yellow. The varieties are very numer- 

 ous. The best for garden culture are the green-fleshed. 



Beechwood. One of the best and most productive of 

 its class ; ripens quite early, about twelve days after the 

 Christiana. Fruit medium size, oval, netted ; skin, green- 

 ish yellow; flesh, pale green, rich, melting, and very 

 sugary. 



Citron. " Small, roundish, flattened at the end, regu- 

 larly ribbed, and thickly netted ; skin, deep green, be- 

 coming pale greenish yellow at maturity; rind moder- 



