CHAPTER IX 



THE MELON 

 By OWEN THOMAS 



The natural order of plants {Cucurbitaceie) to which the melon belongs 

 embraces widely different kinds of fruits, and includes the cucumber, the 

 gourd, and the vegetable marrow, but the melon is by far the most important, 

 whether considered as an article of luxury in this country or as an article of 

 food in the country where it is indigenous. The Cantaloupe melon, which 

 takes its name from a town so called near Rome, is the variety most esteemed 

 on the Continent. The flesh of the Cantaloupe is rather dry, inclined to 

 hardness, and not melting or juicy, as compared to the melon grown in England 

 under glass. It is imported in large quantities, and, as it is sold cheaply, affords 

 to our industrial population wholesome and pleasant food. It may be grown in 

 this country in summer in unheated glass frames, and then is of superior flavour 

 to the imported fruits, but it can be obtained from our shops at so low a price 

 that its culture in this country under artificial conditions will never be under- 

 taken to any extent. The water melon is a fruit greatly appreciated in 

 Egypt, China, and the East Indies, where it is cultivated extensively. In some 

 parts of Upper Egypt whole districts are covered with water melons. The 

 melon as known to English gardeners appears to be a native of Tartary, and, 

 like several more of our exotic fruits, is supposed to have been introduced into 

 Britain from Italy in the year a.d. 1520, and from Gerarde's account, its 

 culture appears to have been almost restricted to the royal gardens. Gerarde 

 had not grown this melon himself, but had seen it at the Queen's house, 

 St. James's. It is stated in Gough's " British Topography " that melons were 

 common in England as early as the time of Edward III., but were entirely 

 lost, as well as the cucumber, during the Wars of the Roses. It is singular as 

 confirming the fact that the evil of too many sorts of melons is a complaint of 

 very long standing, that we find Miller remarking : " In this country there are 

 too many melons produced of no value by those who supply the market, who, 

 endeavouring to enlarge their size, render the fruit of no value, and unworthy 

 of the trouble and expense, being more fit for the dunghill than the table." 

 That the complaint has existed from that time until now in a more or less 

 acute form must, I am afraid, be admitted, but let us hope that the mischief in 

 this respect in the present day does not deserve the scathing condemnation pro- 

 nounced by Miller against it in his time. There has been so much written, 

 and well written too, of late years as regards the cultivation of the melon, that 



were it a question only of writing for the present generation of gardeners, I do 



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