154 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 26, 1890. 



belong to a hardy race, are quite productive in our climate, 

 and can stand it quite as well as any of our own kinds ; they 

 are as vet entirely unknown to our seedsmen, but have been 

 grown under the severe test of the season of 1889. In form 

 they are Hat, globular or oval, the last being seven inches 

 long, and all are fine-grained, thin-rinded, green-fleshed and 

 closely netted, the last an unusual feature in our own varieties 

 last year. This oval Cantaloupe has come nearer to my ideal 

 than any one I have yet tested, and I hope to give it a better 

 trial this coming summer. As Oriental seeds always come 

 mixed in the packages, it will take time to separate the 

 varieties by selection. As I have discovered Erzeroum, in 

 Armenia, to be a great melon centre for both Cantaloupes 

 and Watermelons that are calculated to stand our hot sum- 

 mers, it is to be hoped that our enterprising seedsmen will 

 take steps to secure a full line of seeds, and particularly since 

 my twenty-six kinds of Watermelon seeds were all lost in 

 the wet ground. 



The Cantaloupe has largely multiplied in its varieties in 

 our country of latter years, and we have now those that are 

 white-fleshed, yellow-fleshed, red-fleshed and salmon-fleshed. 

 We have also netted, toad-marked and smooth fruits, with 

 green, yellow and whitish rinds. Attempts have been made 

 to grow the winter varieties of Naples and Malta, which may 

 be ripened from Christmas to Easter, but as yet with no 

 encouragement. The large green melon of Naples is the best 

 and' grows in boggy land, but has thus far failed when planted 

 in the same form of soil in Florida, under my directions. 



In size the Cantaloupe varies as much as in quality, and the 

 extremes of weight are a few ounces and fifty-two pounds, 

 the largest being coarse-grained and somewhat fibrous in 

 texture. Up to twenty or twenty-five pounds fine-grained 

 fruits are produced, especially of the green-fleshed varieties. 

 The largest imported kind was introduced from Portugal, and 

 of native varieties, was brought recently from Colorado, both 

 at their maximum weighing over fifty pounds, and being as 

 large as very large Watermelons. For a combination of large 

 size and fine quality, perhaps no imported variety ever 

 equaled the Persian melon grown for many years in the 

 vicinity of Washington City, under the name of the Hunter 

 Cantaloupe, a long, golden, closely netted fruit, with green 

 flesh, reaching twenty inches in length and a weight of 

 twenty-five pounds. This must not be confounded with the 

 Casaba or Smyrna melon; often erroneously called Persian, 

 the seeds of which were sent to the United States by Dr. 

 Goodell, now of Philadelphia, on several occasions when re- 

 siding in Constantinople. 



Persia is a land of melons, from which we have had, as far 

 as known to me, but four varieties of Cantaloupe, two of 

 which are still produced, and no Watermelon. Who now 

 grows the Ispahan Cantaloupe of the late Bayard Taylor, or 

 the Persian melon of our late President, Mr. Mitchell ? These 

 may still exist as hybrids ; but in their original character they 

 are unknown here. Travelers praise the melons of Persia, 

 write about them and throw the seeds away. Missionaries 

 and American physicians have occupied the garden-spots of 

 the land of Ahasuerus for half a century ; have sent thousands 

 of letters home, and have often visited their own land in per- 

 son, but where are the Apricots, Quinces, Melons and Pome- 

 granates of their introduction ? 



My own Cantaloupe tests have been made with seeds from 

 France, the north and south of Italy, Tripoli, Turkey, Tur- 

 kistan, southern Russia, Russian Georgia, Cappadocia, Ar- 

 menia, the Valley of the Euphrates, Palestine and Japan. 

 Many melons that are excellent in France and northern Italy 

 will not grow in our climate on account of the heat ; those 

 from the land south of Naples do fairly well, but their quality 

 for the table is inferior. The toad-marked melons of north- 

 eastern Italy under repeated tests have always failed, and so 

 have our netted varieties in the cooler parts of that peninsida. 

 Worms and bugs appear to delight in the flavor of the deli- 

 cate foreign vines, and if the plants should in part escape 

 their ravages, their leaves droop under the sun, and the fruit 

 is not worth cutting. There is something very peculiar in the 

 effects of soil and climate in the production of growth and 

 flavor that we cannot understand. That seeds from cool 

 countries should fail here, and that those from some hot 

 countries should not, we can understand ; but why varieties 

 from other hot countries, having a good soil and cold win- 

 ters, should utterly fail in quality of fruit when it, to a certain 

 degree, grows well, we cannot explain. Of all foreign seeds, 

 I have never seen any that grew so exactly in all respects like 

 our own as those from the world's centre, the ancient land of 

 Ararat, now called Armenia. 



Cantaloupes may be divided into two classes : one that 



ripens to the best advantage in the house, and the other on the 

 vine and exposed to the sun. Netted and grooved melons, as 

 a rule, attain their finest flavor in the house, and should be 

 pulled as soon as the green color at the bottom of the grooves 

 has fairly begun to lighten. If a netted melon is pulled a little 

 too soon it will keep a long time but never ripen, and some 

 varieties when apparently well matured will only go to decay 

 if separated from the vine; such are not favorite sorts with the 

 trucker, but may be improved by hybridization with such as 

 ripen more readily. 



Cold nights, cold, damp ground and a mild temperature, 

 with very little or too much rain, are all antagonistic to the 

 growth and maturing of our Cantaloupes. Cold ground, with 

 in the day a moderately warm sun, will cause a large melon to 

 grow flat at the bottom and very convex at the top ; the flesh 

 of the upper part will also be much thicker and better flavored 

 than that of the bottom. This rule of flavor is a general one, 

 and a generous way to divide a melon is to cut it through the 

 middle of the ground spot, either crosswise or through the 

 stem and flower ends. In seasons like that of last year, melons 

 only become about half netted for want of sun, and are poor 

 in flavor when considered ripe ; vast quantities brought to 

 market never ripened. The melons from my Armenian 

 seeds were exceptional in being densely netted. 



Although the pollen of a Cucumber flower is capable of 

 ruining the flavor of a Cantaloupe, it is very rare for a 

 hybrid to be produced. I have seen such, between a 

 Cucumber and a Jenny Lind melon, which was a decided cu- 

 riosity. A noted Palestine Cucumber, known as the Mukte's, 

 is produced upon a vine that very closely resembles in leaf 

 and color that of a Cantaloupe ; still, the fruit is an old variety 

 of Cucumber and quite distinct from any of our sorts. The 

 long Banana Cantaloupe makes a curious hybrid with the Jenny 

 Lind, the product being oval, yellow, almost free from netting, 

 very fragrant and salmon-fleshed ; it has a better flavor than 

 the former, but is quite inferior to the latter. 



In Armenia there grows a Cantaloupe, probably of large size, 

 to judge by the seeds, which is so sensitive to the heat of the 

 sun that the gardeners are in the habit of covering the young 

 melons with earth until they reach a certain size, when they 

 are uncovered ; this variety will be tested the coming season 

 in several localities. The seeds are very large and white, much 

 larger than any we have, and resemble those of the curious 

 yellow Cappadocia melon introduced by me several years ago 

 and not now grown ; it was long, flat, smooth and salmon-red 

 fleshed, like the Banana Cantaloupe in all points except in its 

 shape. 



Some years ago a few winter Cantaloupes were grown in 

 this latitude, but the measure of success did not encourage 

 the grower to continue the experiment ; still, I see no reason 

 why other attempts should not be made. American visitors 

 to Naples are willing to pay sixty cents for a green melon in 

 winter, and speak of it as wonderfully fine ; in fact, it is the 

 finest Neapolitan variety, and ought to be grown in some 

 southern state, if possible, as a new industry. If the Naples 

 melon will not succeed, the Malta green one should be tried. 

 These melons are put away in the fall before they begin to 

 ripen, and kept in a cool place. When one is to be ripened it 

 is hung up in the open air in a warm place, in a net or a little 

 bundle of straw, as bottles are sometimes encased for packing. 

 The Naples seeds are very large, but of a form that ought to 

 grow ; the dry soil varieties may do better in our country. 

 — From an Address before the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society, by Dr. Robert P. Harris. 



Orchard Experiences. — III. 



THE relative value of the different methods of propagating 

 fruit-trees is frequently discussed, but often from a too 

 narrow and local experience. In southern Maine, for instance, 

 nearly all the fruit-growing farmers habitually denounce root- 

 grafted and low budded trees as worthless ; and " New York 

 trees," even from the best nurseries, are looked upon as frauds 

 all over northern New England. It is needless to say that this 

 is unjust ; but the feeling, neverthless, exists, is very wide 

 spread, and has its basis on what is supposed to be a general 

 experience. 



The approved method of propagating Apple-trees in south- 

 ern Maine is to grow seedlings in a nursery up to four or five 

 years, to select the most thrifty for planting in the orchard, to 

 set them out, and three or four years later top-work them, by 

 grafting or budding in the limbs. This produces a tree that 

 satisfies the requirements of that region ; and the same pro- 

 cess is in vogue in all southern New England, though low 

 worked trees are not much objected to in Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut or Rhode Island. 



