708 
EXTRACTS.—HORTICULTURE. 
was made to ascertain the history of these,seeds proved fruitless. All that could 
be established, with regard to the place of their production, was that they 
came from India; but as to the particular locality, or the amount of cul¬ 
tivation they had received, or whether the grain was a spontaneous offer¬ 
ing of nature, could not be ascertained. The foundation of the wheat har¬ 
vests at Mexico, is said to have been three or four grains, which a slave of 
Cortez discovered in 1530, accidentally mixed with a quantity of rice. The 
Spanish lady, Naria d’Escobar, first imparted the same blessing to Peru, shortly 
after its introduction as is supposed into Mexico. Father Josse Rixi, or Fleming 
conveyed the first grains to Quito, and sowed them near the monastery of St. 
Francis, where the monks still show, as a precious relic, the rude earthen pot 
wherein the seeds first reached their establishment. The rice of Carolina is now 
the principal produce of that portion of North America. Mr. Ashby, an Eng¬ 
lish merchant, at the close of the 17th century, sent a hundred weight from 
China to this colony; and from this source all the subsequent rice harvests of 
that division of the New World, and the large exportations of the same valua¬ 
ble grain to Europe have sprung. 
EXTRACTS. 
HORTICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE. 
Horticulture of Venice. —The principal melons are, the Melamocesini, 
easily known by the stem, being from two to three inches thick, and very knobby. 
The Cantaloups, with yellowish or whitish flesh, the Rhampaghini, which climb 
on trees and shrubs, and have their fruit closely covered with a whitish net: and 
the Buchari (Buchanan Melon) much cultivated on the islands of the Levant. 
These latter melons are of an elliptic form: their skin is smooth, and of a whi¬ 
tish yellow, the flesh is sugary, of a white colour, and in the centre, where the 
seeds are contained, it is hollow. They are sometimes one and a half feet in 
length, and several pounds in weight; their principal merit, however is, that they 
will keep good till Christmas, if kept in a dry and cool place. It is remarkable, 
that pieces of this very sweet fruit, become intensely bitter when rotten. The 
seeds of the melons are generally put in good wine a short time before they are 
sown, which is done in April. Holes of one and a half feet in diameter are 
made five feet apart; they are nearly filled with dung, and five or six seeds are 
sown in each, and covered with light soil. Two of the strongest plants only are 
left after they come up, and during their growth the most luxuriant shoots are 
cut out. Particular attention must be paid to observe the time of ripening of 
the fruit, which generally occurs at mid day, and is known by the aromatic smell 
thrown out, (page 234.) The melons must then be cut, and kept in a cool dry 
place, as they lose their flavour entirely when left a few hours on the plant after 
their ripening. Not only the flesh of these melons is employed for food, but 
also the seeds v'hich when bruised, and put into water with sugar, make a very- 
agreeable liquid, (semuda.) The water-melons are also very extensively cultiva¬ 
ted, much in the same way as the others. The seeds of the common sort are 
black, and those of the better variety (Angurie zuccarine) brownish yellow, with 
