A TALK ABOUT MELONS. 



THE CANTALOUPES OF ALL KINDS FANCIES AND IDEALS MELON SEEDS. 



PERFECT cantaloupe ! have 

 you the recollection of one ? 

 Then you will treasure it in 

 your memory, for in its full 

 perfection it is a rarity, and in 

 the estimation of some, it has 

 no equal in our summer fruits. 



To constitute perfection, the fruit should be re- 

 moved from the vine shortly before it is ripe ; it 

 should be washed with soap and cold water, then 

 dried in a soft towel, and then set to ripen in a dry 

 place. A cantaloupe that before washing smells 

 like a potato, will in a few hours begin to give out 

 an inviting perfume, and when this odor has reach- 

 ed its proper measure and character is the time to 

 cut the melon, regardless of the clock. 



Almost every lover of the cantaloupe has in his mind 

 an ideal melon, based either upon a recollection of one 

 long since eaten, perhaps in his boyhood, or upon what 

 he believes should be the form, size, character, color 

 and flavor of a perfect fruit. The seedsman has his 

 ideal, and hunts the world over for seeds to test, in the 

 hope of some day realizing it. Hundreds of varieties 

 from all parts of the melon-growing world have been 

 grown during the last ten years, and still the hope is un- 

 satisfied. The trucker also has an ideal, which is large- 

 ly a commercial one ; he wants a hardy, productive 

 plant ; a well-netted, tough-rinded fruit, that will ripen 

 off the vine ; a melon that is neither smaller large, and 

 that has a good smell and taste. He also wants an early 

 ripener, and one that does not run through its cropping 

 too soon. The seedsman tries to meet these wishes ; 

 but at the same time to perfect the fruit in its quality, 

 to suit his own taste and that of the epicure. My own 

 ideal melon is of the size and form of a large ostrich 

 egg, with a thin, finely netted rind, thick grass-green 

 flesh, a small seed cavity, and a sweet aromatic flavor. 



Some fifty years or more ago, there was introduced 

 into this market a small green-fleshed cantaloupe known 

 as the "Center melon," which for a time, far excelled 

 in richness of flavor all of its competitors. It was flat 

 in form, grooved, and finely netted ; but was too small 

 to suit the ideas of the trucker. This Center melon 

 was the progenitor of the Jenny Lind variety, named 

 about 1846 ; but where it came from no one now ap- 

 pears to know. I am inclined, however, to believe that 

 it originated in the east, and possibly in the table land 

 of Armenia, where netted green-fleshed melons are pro- 

 duced in abundance, some of which are flat, and where 

 the same perfect flavor is to be met with. These Ar- 



menian melons belong to a hardy race, are quite pro- 

 ductive in our climate, and can stand it as well as any 

 of our own kinds ; they are as yet entirely unknown to 

 to our seedsmen. I grew several last year. In form 

 are they flat, globular and oval, and all are fine-grained, 

 thin-rinded, green-fleshed, and closely netted. This 

 oval cantaloupe has come nearer to my ideal than any 

 one I have yet tested, and I hope to give it a better trial 

 this coming summer. As oriental seeds always come 

 mixed in the packages, it will take time to separate the 

 varieties by selection. As I have discovered Erzeroum, 

 in Armenia, to be a great melon center for both canta- 

 loupes and watermelons that are calculated to stand our 

 hot summers, it is to be hoped that our enterprising 

 seedsmen will take steps to secure a full line of seeds. 



The cantaloupe has largely multiplied in its varieties 

 in our country of latter years, and we have now those 

 that are white-fleshed, yellow-fleshed, red-fleshed and 

 salmon-fleshed. We have also netted, toad-marked and 

 smooth fruits, with green, yellow and whitish rinds. 

 Attempts have been made to grow the winter varieties 

 of Naples and Malta, which may be ripened from 

 Christmas to Easter, but as yet with no encouragement. 

 The large green melon of Naples is the best and grows 

 in boggy land, but has thus far failed when planted in 

 the same kind of soil in Florida, under my directions. 



In size the cantaloupe varies as much as in quality, 

 and the extremes of weight are a few ounces and fifty- 

 two pounds, the largest being coarse-grained and some- 

 what fibrous in texture. Up to twenty or twenty-five 

 pounds, fine-grained fruits are produced, especially of 

 the green-fleshed varieties. The largest imported kind 

 was introduced from Portugal, and of native varieties 

 the largest was brought recently from Colorado ; both 

 at their maximum weight over fifty pounds, being as 

 large as very large watermelons. Such brobdignagian 

 fruits are valuable as surprises for a dinner company, 

 but the smaller kinds are more pleasing to the palate. 



For a combination of large size and fine quality, per- 

 haps no imported variety ever equalled the Persian 

 melon, grown for many years in the vicinity of Wash- 

 ington city, under the name of the "Hunter canta- 

 loupe," a long, golden, closely netted fruit, with green 

 flesh, reaching twenty inches in length and a weight of 

 twenty-five pounds. This must not be confounded with 

 the "Casaba" or Smyrna melon, often erroneously 

 called "Persian," the seeds of which were sent to the 

 United States by Dr. Goodell, now of this city, on sev- 

 eral occasions when residing in Constantinople. Persia 

 is a land of melons, from which we have had. as far as 

 known to me, but four varieties of cantaloupe, two of 

 which are still produced ; and no watermelon. Who 



