138 An Account of the striped Hoosainee Persian Melon, 



than that of the finest Ispahan Melon ; and its juice was more 

 sweet and high-flavoured than I had ever previously found that of 

 any other fruit of the species to be. I caused it to be tasted by a 

 very great number of gardeners, and other persons, and all expres- 

 sed the same opinion of its merits. The plant offered blossoms 

 very freely, and would have borne fruit much sooner than it did, if 

 I would have permitted it ; but in this, as in all other cases, in 

 which I wish to preserve the seeds of the fruit, I never suffer that 

 to set, nor even blossoms to unfold, till the powers of the plant to 

 nourish its fruit have been given time to accumulate. I send a few 

 seeds of each of the three Melons above mentioned; and I hope 

 that the varieties will prove capable of being cultivated successfully 

 in a common hot-bed. The fruit grew very slowly under my 

 management, and it required a longer time, than ordinary, to ripen 

 it ; but all ripened well without shewing any disposition to burst, 

 and remained sound and perfect a fortnight after they were gathered, 

 and all became externally very soft without exhibiting any symp- 

 toms of approaching decay 



As soon as I discovered that one very sickly plant alone was all 

 that I possessed of the variety above described, I requested that a 

 few more seeds might be sent to me ; and from those which I re- 

 ceived, I raised six plants. All those afforded striped fruit ; but the 

 pulp of five was perfectly white, and that of one, which possessed 

 no merit, was deep yellow, as in common Melons : and the fruit of 

 almost every plant differed, to some extent, in form, and external 

 colour. The pulp of four of the varieties, which I retained, was 

 perfectly white, and very tender, and the juice very abundant, and 

 very sweet : but the pulp was not in any of them what I could call 

 melting. The Melon which I sent to the Society was, I thought, 

 better ripened than those I retained ; but I conclude that it pos- 

 sessed, to some extent, the same defects. 



In my management of my plants and fruit, 1 certainly thought 



