July, 1911 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
XVII 
When and How to Gather Vegetables 
(Continued from page xii) 
Melons are coy about proclaiming their 
ripeness, but bees can guess it and they 
will hover above them, attracted by their 
fragrance. When ripe, the stem of musk- 
melons parts readily from the fruit, and 
this condition is usually manifest by tiny 
cracks where the parting will take place. 
The Hackensack, Long Island Beauty and 
other creamy -fleshed melons show the 
faintest tinge of yellow through their net- 
ted surface when ripe, but the Emerald 
Gem, Jenny Lind and other green-fleshed 
melons do not when properly ripe. 
\With water melons the case is yet more 
dificult. Those whose powers of judging 
are not racial must reconcile themselves to 
some loss from bad judging. A wide, yel- 
low area on the under side of the melon 
indicates ripeness. If when pressed the 
melon gives a muffled, groaning sound, its 
ripe inwardness has parted and the sacri- 
ficial moment has arrived. When the ear 
has become true, a light thumping on the 
surface will disclose the secret. 
FOREST FIRES 
URING the year forest fires burned 
over an area of 3,000,000 acres, at 
a rough estimate, at a loss of $25,- 
000,000 and the destruction of over 6,000,- 
000,000 feet of timber. During 1909 the 
burned area was 362,014 acres, as com- 
pared with 115,000 acres in 1906. It is 
charged that a considerable number of 
the fires were caused by incendiarism, 
which has led the department to offer a 
reward for the conviction of the incen- 
diaries. Precautionary means are being 
employed by the department to reduce 
the fires to a minimum, such as the con- 
struction of roads and trails and the es- 
tablishment of fire lines. During the 
year 5,500 miles of road and 16,000 miles 
of trail were completed. It is remem- 
bered that the forests be equipped with 
lookout stations located on high points, 
with telephonic communication. 
TALLEST OF TREES 
N New South Wales, Victoria and Tas- 
mania grows a species of gum tree, 
Eucalyptus amygdalina, which prob- 
ably represents the tallest of all trees of the 
globe. 
The loftiest specimen of this tree yet 
measured towers to the height of four 
hundred and seventy-one feet. A pros- 
trate tree, measured in Victoria, was four 
hundred and twenty feet long, and the dis- 
tance from the roots to the lowest branch 
was two hundred and ninety-five feet. 
At that point the trunk was four feet in 
diameter, and three hundred and sixty 
feet from the butt the diameter was still 
three feet. The wood of this tree is hard 
and of good quality, it grows quickly, 
and yields a great quantity of volatile oil 
from its leaves, which are very abundant. 
TORTOISE SHELL 
HE finest of tortoise shell is said to be 
that which comes from the Indian 
Archipelago, although much of that 
obtained on the Florida coast is of the very 
best quality. There are three rows of plates 
on the back of the animal, called “blades” 
by the fishermen. In the central row are 
five plates, and in each of the others four 
plates, the latter containing the best ma- 
terial. Besides these, there are twenty-five 
small plates round the edges of the shell, 
known as “feet” or “noses.” 
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