Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/74

 When dry, tie them in paper bags, and hang them up in a dry room for use. Let a few plants ripen for seed.

Pot Marjoram, or Winter Marjoram, is propagated by dividing the roots early in Spring and planting it in beds. Cut it when in full bloom; dry in the shade; wrap it up, and preserve it for Winter use.

Melon, in some character, is to be found in all tropical countries, but the finest varieties are supposed to have come from Persia and Affghanistan. It has been cultivated in Europe nearly four hundred years, and in the south of that continent, in its season, it constitutes the principal part of the food of the lower classes, proving that it is both wholesome and nutricious. The flesh of a well-grown melon is delicious. It is eaten with ginger, pepper, sugar, salt, or as fancy and taste dictate. Its nature is cooling. There are many varieties in culture, which, with artificial aid, can be brought to perfection, but when left to unassisted nature and exposed to heavy rains and scorching suns, the number is very limited indeed. They are confined to the indifferent, or improved culture and purity of three or four sorts.

Musk Melon, so called from its peculiar scent, is nearly round; color, a yellowish green; rind smooth, and the fruit very slightly ribbed. It used to be extensively cultivated for its productive qualities, but now gives way to better varieties.

Early Cantaloupe takes its name from a village near Rome, where it has been grown for many centuries, and from thence distributed to this Western world. There are many varieties of it readily distinguished from the former by having small