1883.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



103 



MELONS FOR MARKET. 



The Melon trade of New-York city is a 

 prominent branch of business during its 

 season. At one time, the Musk or Citron 

 Melons sold here were all raised in the vicin- 

 ity of our city, so as to reach the market in 

 good condition ; but of late years their cul- 

 tivation has extended all over New Jersey 

 and some of the Southern States. 



HACKENSACK MUSK-MELON. 



To grow Melons to perfection requires a 

 large quantity of manure, labor, and judg- 

 ment. Poor Melons are not generally worth 

 marketing ; while a crop of choice ones is 

 profitable. Even after the prospect of a 

 large crop is determined, much depends 

 upon the skill of the grower in knowing just 

 when to pick ; for if Melons are picked too 

 green they will not ripen, and if too ripe 

 they soon decay ; consequently much 

 of the profits of the crop depend upon 

 the judgment of the grower in this 

 respect. The proper time for picking 

 a Melon can be determined by pressing 

 upon the vine close to the fruit. If it 

 refuses to yield, let it alone ; for if 

 it is ripe enough it will separate with 

 a snap, leaving a slight concavity in 

 the fruit. You will never see a 

 choice Melon with a long stem on it, 

 and no connoisseur will buy one with 

 such an appendage. 



Large quantities of Melons are grown in 

 Monmouth county, N. J., as well as in Hack- 

 ensack, Bergen county. The first named 

 produces probably a larger quantity than all 

 the other counties in the State, many farm- 

 ers making it the most prominent feature of 

 their business. Several sloop-loads are sent 

 daily ; also large quantities by other con- 

 veyances. 



The Haekensack Melons are the best noted 



SCALY-BARK WATER-MELON. 



in market, and many a barrel of inferior 

 stock is palmed off on ignorant buyers for 

 the genuine. The Haekensack farmers take 

 more pains to raise a choice article than any 

 others, and some of these growers will not 

 send inferior Melons to the city at any price. 

 The distance from Haekensack to New- York 

 is about twelve miles, so the growers gen- 



erally prefer carting their crops to the city. 

 Some pack them in barrels before starting, 

 others load in bulk, and pack in barrels on 

 their arrival. 



The price for the first of these Jersey 

 Melons is about five dollars per barrel, but 

 increased arrivals run it down to three dol- 

 lars, when large quantities are sold ; but as 

 soon as the bulk of the crop arrives, and 

 the poor stock comes with a rush, prices fall 

 often below the cost of transportation, and 

 I have known eases where hundreds of 

 barrels have been clumped overboard from 

 the boats in order to return at least the 

 empty barrels to the growers. 



The Watermelon is a great favorite in 

 our market. A few years ago New Jersey 

 furnished all that was received, and then we 

 thought we had a great many, but now its 

 cultivation has extended largely over the 

 Southern States, Virginia and Maryland 

 sending them by hundreds of boat loads. 

 At one time during last season there were 

 fifty-six boat loads lying on the fiats oppo- 

 site the city, waiting for others to sell 

 out and take their berth so as to sell their 

 cargo. Florida sends us the first Melons ; 

 then Georgia, but owing to the loss of 

 breakage cn route great eare is necessary in 

 handling them, and only choice stock can 

 be shipped profitably such great distances. 



MOUNTAIN SWEET WATER-MELON. 



On arrival in our city large quantities of 

 Melons are sent to other large cities and 

 towns wherever there is communication by 

 water — to Albany, Troy, and all the river 

 towns of this State, as well as the Eastern 

 cities; and not a few boat loads full are 

 consumed at the fashionable sea-side re- 

 sorts and large summer hotels. 



C. W. IDELL. 



RELATION OF SEED TO THE POTATO CROP. 



So far as the experience of one year can 

 determine, all the data obtained by the ex- 

 periments of Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, at the 

 New-York Agricultural Station, and from 

 whose report the following is condensed, go 

 to show that the character of the seed used 

 is an important determining factor of the 

 crop gained ; that single eyes have yielded 

 better results than whole Potatoes used as 

 seed, and that the form of the cutting seems 

 more influential than the size of the cutting. 

 In the experiments carried on under glass, 

 under circumstances which give warmth of 

 soil and uniformity of conditions, together 

 with the soil richer and in better physical 

 condition than is usually obtainable in the 

 field, the results obtained seem to indicate 

 that, under these circumstances, the size of 

 the seed and the growth of the top have no 

 correlation. The small seed may give large 

 top, and the large seed small top, or rice 

 versd, the character of the growth seeming 

 to be more influenced by the position which 

 the eye held upon the Potato than upon its 



size. The data all go to show that the roots 

 thrown out by the shoot absorb their nutri- 

 ment for the plant from the ground, rather 

 than that the plant absorbs nutriment from 

 the seed. In no case was the structure of 

 the seed found broken down through absorp- 

 tion ; and where destruction of the seed has 

 occurred, it has come about through ordinary 

 decay, commencing at the extremities. And 



CASABA MUSK-MELON. 



yet, despite this non-appearance of absorp- 

 tion, the shape of the cutting with reference 

 to the structure of the Potato seems to have 

 some influence. Under conditions of green- 

 house culture, the province of the seed seems 

 rather to be to initiate growth than to sup- 

 port growth after it has become once estab- 

 lished, while yet there seems an obscure 

 relationship between the form of the seed 

 used and the prolificacy of the plant 

 in tuber. 



While in the greenhouse, under arti- 

 ficial conditions, a small eye seems as 

 potent as a large one ; yet, in the field, 

 wo have different circumstances, and 

 small eyes are liable to perish before 

 the plant becomes formed. Under 

 circumstances of poverty of soil, or 

 its equivalent, a very poor physical 

 condition of the soil, we see what 

 seems to be evidence that absorption 

 from the seed into the plant takes 

 place ; and, under these circumstances, it 

 seems probable that size of seed may have 

 an influence upon the crop grown. This 

 question of apparent absorption from the 

 seed seems to be quite an important one, 

 and attention is called to the use of the 

 words "apparent absorption," as meaning a 

 visible change in the seed during the growth 

 of its plant, which appears evident to the 

 eye through the disappearance of tissue 

 from the disintegration of the substance of 

 the seed, and that those remarks have no 

 reference to that absorption which may take 

 place without leaving visible traces. The 

 conditions of this absorption we do not yet 



CITRON WATER-MELON 



understand. In some eases the seed remains 

 intact throughout the whole growth ; in 

 other cases absorption takes place at an 

 early period, while often disappearance of 

 the seed takes place through a process of 

 rotting rather than one of absorption. 



[We know an instance in which a tuber 

 remained sound all summer and sprouted 

 again the following spring. — Ed.] 



