34 AGRICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 

 MEDICINAL AND MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. 



In the preceding pages I have referred only to crops which can be 

 extensively cultivated and promise to be of considerable economic 

 importance. But there is a host of plants of secondary importance 

 which ought also to be mentioned. 



For example, in the Cucurbitacese we cultivate Cucumis melo, 

 Citrullus vulgaris (watermelon), Cucumis cliate, and G. melo 

 dudaim. 



Of the different races of watermelon cultivated in Palestine I 

 shall mention only two. . The "Abu-taba " (father of the ring), so 

 called because of the large scar which it has in the place of the pistil, 

 is cultivated chiefly along the coast in the neighborhood of the Jew- 

 ish colony Hedera. It is exported to the value of $200,000 annually 

 (see fig- 11), chiefly from Csesarea and Minet Abu-Zabura. The 



Fig. 10. — An up-to-date Jewish farmer in the dry-farming region of the Jordan Valley 

 using an American-made binder. 



latter is a temporary harbor maintained only during the shipping 

 season of these melons. This Abu-taba, which grows on the poorest 

 soil, is very early, and because of its thick rind it is uninjured by 

 journeys of two to three weeks. It is therefore shipped to Egypt, 

 Smyrna, and Constantinople. 



Another rather curious sort is that cultivated in the neighbor- 

 hood of Tiberias. It is not so early as the one just mentioned and 

 does not have such good shipping qualities, but it is much liked on 

 account of the sweetness of its fruit. It is very small, being only 

 about the size of a grapefruit. 



There is a kind of muskmelon, cultivated chiefly by the Bosnians 

 in CaBsarea, that is kept until late in the winter. It is, I believe, 

 derived from the sort cultivated at Kirk-Agatch, in Anatolia, a 

 variety propagated in California under the name " Casaba." 



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