2. 
yield a crop. I only know that it is slow - very slow. 
The renewal crop is rapid. I have seen canes on cut over 
lands which had "been stripped 4 years "before. I think 
in 5 or 6 years at most and on very poor lands a crop 
can be ; depended upon. A seedling crop perhaps in 10 
years". (Lyon.) For propagation; plants available later. 
CITRULLUS VULGARIS. 25934. Seed from Robertson, Cape 
Colony, South Africa. Presented by Mr. Chas. P. Lounsbury 
who procured them from Mr. "E. A. Visser, Manager of the 
Experiment Station at Robertson. Received September 4. 
"Mr. Visser says this plant yielded melons at the rate of 
75 tons an acre on the station grounds without any special 
care and that the melons kept well and are excellent 
stock food. They weigh about 30 lbs. each and have a 
firm, sweetish, somewhat tough pulp. The rind is mottled 
pale and dark green like common watermelons as a rule but 
is sometimes whitish in this strain. The seeds do not 
separate readily and no one seems to be trying to save 
more than they need for themselves, so there is little 
chance of buying a supply unless it is ordered a year 
ahead. Mr. Jack, who was Director of the Departmemt here 
and is now farming, is trying in vain to get seed for a 
hundred acres which at least indicates that the merits of 
the crop appeal to him. Mr. Thornton, our Agriculturist, 
tells me the plant has long grown to the west of Kuruman 
on the east side of the Kalihari desert. He thinks it 
was probably cultivated there by natives in bv-gone days 
but now it grows wild. Some years ago he got down seeds 
and had them planted near Graaf Reinet. Farmers of the 
district soon appreciated the value of the melon and took 
to its cultivation as a stock food. It is said, on good 
authority, to have yielded as high as 150 tons an acre 
around there, the ground being almost obscured by the 
fruits. It seems to me that this or other of the South 
African melons should be more worth cultivating in arid 
parts of the west than the thornless prickly pears. Of 
course the melons want water but much of what they get 
they store away for months. (Lounsbury. ) 
