334 



Re/. — " Momordica Charantia" in Field and Garden Crops, N.W. 



Prov. & Oudh, Duthie & Fuller, ii. pp. 62-63. "Momordica 



Gharantia" in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, v. i. 1891, pp. 256-257. 



" Margose," Desruisseaux, in L'Agric. prat. des. pays chauds, vii. 



i. 1907, pp. 320-324. 



CUCUMIS, Linn. 



Cucumis Figarei, Delile ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 543. 

 III.— Kich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, t. 53 bis (G. ftcifolius). 

 Vernac. names. — Makaimi (Katagum, Dalziel) ; Shishibia (Loanda, 

 Gossweiler). 

 Fruits edible, Loanda (Gossweiler, Herb. Kew). 



Cucumis Melo, Linn. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 546. 



Vernac. names. — Qaoon (Egypt, Brown) ; Makuwari (Japan, 

 Woolley) ; Kurbooja (Madras, Mus. Kew). — The Melon, Sweet 

 Melon, Musk Melon, Nutmeg or Netted Melon, Cantaloup. 



Native probably of Bokhara. Cultivated throughout China (Fl. 

 Sinensis, i. p. 317) and in many warm countries. 



The Melon is well known as a dessert fruit. There are many 

 cultivated forms varying in the form — usually round, but sometimes 

 oblong or oval ; the surface smooth, ribbed, or netted ; colour and 

 flavour of their flesh— white, green, red, or flesh-colour ; the seeds 

 yield about 30 per cent, of light thin slow-drying oil ; employed in the 

 soap industry and for culinary purposes (Watt, Comm. Prod. India, 

 p. 438). The seed is one of the principal exports from Kiukiang, 

 China— 46,774 cwts., value £39,057, in 1906, and 30,345 cwts., value 

 £29,492, in 1907 (Cons. Rep, Ann. No. 4031, 1908, p. 12), and a con- 

 siderable trade in it exists from the Chinese port of Chef oo (Watt, I.e.). 



Melons have been grown at Ibadan (Ricketts, S. Nig. Govt. Gaz. 

 3rd March, 1909, Suppl. p. 11), and it is probable that they would 

 grow well in all the drier parts of the two Colonies. The plant 

 succeeds well under irrigation and requires a hot dry climate and 

 rich sandy soil. The returns from an acre of Melons in Egypt vary 

 between £20 and £40, and the expenses of cultivation do not 

 exceed £10 (Brown, Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xxxv. 1909, p. 35). 



Var. agrestis, Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. Series 4, xi. (1859), p. 73. 



Vernac. names. — Ajurr — bitter Senat, Fagus — sweet Senat 

 (Kordofan, Mus. Kew) ; Hameid (Berber, Sudan, Mus. Kew) ; 

 Boange (Nupe, Barter) ; Gurji (Sokoto, Dalziel). 



Nupe ; Borgu (Barter, No. 748, Herb. Kew). 



An oil seed, the export of which from the Sudan in 1910, amounted 

 to 110 tons, and the seed is now under investigation (Bull. Imp. 

 Inst. 1911, p. 63). It appears probable that this is Barter's " boange " 

 of the Nupe people — he describes the fruit as, size of a walnut, 

 edible, of the flavour of a green melon ; grows in dry sandy places, 

 Nupe and Borgu. Used in soup, Sokoto (Dalziel, Herb. Kew). 



Be/.—" Gucumis Melo"" in Field & Garden Crops, N.W. Prov. & 



Oudh, Duthie & Fuller, ii. pp. 51-52. " Melon {Gucumis Melo)" 



in Diet. Gard. Nicholson, ii. pp. 348-351. " Cucumis Melo" in 



Diet, Econ. Prod. India, Watt, ii. 1889, pp. 627-6-32, including var. 



Momordica, and var: utilissima. How to grow Melons for Market, 



Burpee, pp. 1-81, illustrated. " How to Grow Melons," Queensland 



Agric. Journ. iii. 1898, p. 479. " Melon," in Vegetables & Flowers, 



Trop. Sub-Trop. & Temp. Climates, Sutton & Sons, pp. 72-75. - 



