NETTED MELONS 



419 



Moscatello Melon 

 (■^ natural size). 



Composite Melon.— Fruit oblong, with prominent ribs and 

 a thin rind, dark green in colour, almost entirely covered with 

 network of medium thickness ; flesh red, firm, 

 sweet, and well tasted. 



Melon de Coulommiers. — Fruit large, ob- 

 long, with tolerably well-marked ribs, and very 

 like the Honfleur Melon, of which it appears 

 to be a sub-variety. A rather late kind. 



Melon d'Esclavonie. — A very distinct 

 variety, with large fruit of a long oval shape, 

 rounded at both ends, and with a white, smooth, 

 and rather thick skin ; flesh nearly white, sweet, 

 but insipid. 



Melon de Langeais.— A variety of the 

 Paris Market Garden Melon, with oblong fruit, 

 almost twice as long as broad ; ribs pretty well 

 marked and very much netted, furro^vs smooth ; 

 skin thin ; flesh red, watery, and rather insipid. 

 Ripens half-late. 



Moscatello Melon. — Fruit very long, and almost pointed at both 

 ends ; ribs rather well marked, of a pale gray or silvery green, and 

 very seldom netted ; flesh red, very juicy, and highly perfumed. 



Persian, or Odessa, Melon. 

 — A rather vigorous plant, with 

 long and somewhat slender stems. 

 The fruit is devoid of ribs, very 

 much elongated, and narrowed to 

 a point at both ends, especially 

 at the stalk ends ; skin smooth, 

 very dark green, with yellow bands, 

 themselves spotted or striped with 

 green ; flesh very thick, almost 

 without any rind and almost en- 

 tirely filling the fruit, rather firm,- 

 but very finely flavoured, juicy, 

 sweet, and highly perfumed. This 

 Melon requires a great deal of 

 heat, and seldom ripens very well 

 in northern countries. 



In Persia and Turkestan there 

 is a great number of varieties of 

 Melons which are highly esteemed 

 for their quality in those countries, 

 and of which travellers speak in 

 terms of admiration. The climate must have a great deal to do 

 with this, as the very same kinds, when grown in France, are 



Persian, or Odessa, Melon 

 (i natural size). 



