210 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



methods described in the article on cucumber. As the 

 melon worm generally destroys all the fruit after about 

 the middle of August, it is important to get them early into 

 bearing. This is a green worm, the progeny of some 

 moth, which crawls up from the ground, eating its way 

 into melons, squashes, cucumbers, &c., admitting the air, 

 and causing them to decay at once, and fill the atmosphere 

 about them Avith a most disagreeable and sickening odor. 

 Putting a board or brick under each melon as soon as it 

 appears, will sometimes prevent his entrance, but there is 

 no certain remedy. But it is well to raise a part of the 

 plants in pots to hasten the melon season as fast as possi- 

 ble. Good melons may be raised without this trouble, but 

 in a garden the very best modes of culture should be 

 pursued. 



To Save Seed. — Select of each variety some of the 

 earliest and best melons; wash the seed from the pulp, dry 

 them in the shade, and put away in paper bags. They 

 Avill keep ten years. Old seed is more prolific in fruit 

 than new. Be sure and plant the oldest seed you can get 

 if it appears well preserved; seeds will not be true if the 

 varieties are within one hundred feet of each other. 



Use. — The melon as a palatable and luscious fruit, very 

 cooling in hot weather, maintains a high rank. It is usu- 

 ally eaten with salt alone, though many like the addition 

 of sugar and spices. That it is wholesome is proved by its 

 constant use while in season as an article of food among 

 the people of Southern Europe. The musk melon con- 

 tains but a trifle more water than the beet, and is quite as 

 nourishing. It contains albumen, casein, dextrine and 

 sugar, which combined with citric, malic, and tartaric 

 acids, give its peculiar rich flavor. The green fruit may 

 be cooked like th3 egg-plant, and is also made into man- 

 goes. 



