Melon

Melon (Cucumis melo), a plant of the same genus with the Cucumber (q.v.), much cultivated for its fruit, which is sweet, with a delicious though peculiar flavour and smell. The melon is an annual, with trailing or climbing stems, lateral tendrils, rounded angular leaves, small, yellow, nonaceous flowers, and large round or somewhat ovate fruit. It is supposed to be a native of the subtropical parts of Asia, although it has never been discovered in a wild state. Its English name was originally Musk Melon. The varieties in cultivation are very numerous, some of them distinguished by a thick and warty rind, some by a rind cracked in a net-like manner, some by ribs and furrows, some by a perfectly smooth and thin rind; they differ also in the colour of the flesh of the fruit, which is green, red, yellow, &c.; and in the size of the fruit, which varies from 3 or 4 inches to a foot or more in diameter. The melon is eaten either by itself or with sugar, and sometimes with pepper or ginger. Its cultivation in hotbeds and in specially constructed hothouses is extensively carried on in all parts of Britain, and very great care is bestowed on it. A loamy soil is best suited to it. The setting of the fruit by dusting the female flower with the pollen of the male flower is constantly practised by gardeners. Warmth and bright sunshine are requisite to the production of fruit of good quality.—The Water Melon or Citrul (C. citrullus), although rarely cultivated in Britain, is highly esteemed and much cultivated in almost all warm countries. It is a native of the warm parts of the Old World. It has deeply lobed and gashed leaves, and a large round fruit with smooth dark-green spotted rind, and pink or white flesh, less sweet than the melon, but much more juicy or watery, and therefore much prized in many warm countries. In America it is only the water melon that is ever called simply melon; for the other the old English name is retained where 'cantaloupe' is not used. In South Carolina the water melon has reached 45 lb.—South Africa has another species of Water Melon (C. Caffer), very valuable to the inhabitants.—The Chate (C. Chate) is a native of Egypt and Arabia.—The Kaukoor (C. utilisissimus) is a native of India, and much cultivated in some parts of that country; it has oval fruit, smooth, variegated with different shades of yellow, and about 6 inches long, with much the flavour of the melon. The fruit will keep for several months, and is much used both raw and in curries. The half-grown fruit is pickled. The seeds contain much farina and oil, and are ground into meal; the oil is also expressed, and used both for food and in lamps. The seeds of others of this genus may be used in the same way; and they are said to be useful as a diuretic medicine.