Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/75

 warts on the rind, the flesh greener, and more firm.—Well flavored.

Netted Citron is an oval fruit, roughly netted all over, of a pale yellowish green when ripe; grows to a good size; from two to five pounds; flesh, green, firm, juicy, and high flavored. This variety commands the highest price in Philadelphia market, and its quality depends on its genuine purity. Seeds should be two years old before sowing.

Rock Melon.—Fruit of an oval, round shape, rind green, with large white warts or rocky appearances thereon, hence its name. Flesh solid, of a yellowish color, rich and melting; in size, equal to the former.

.—The Melon is cultivated in a similar manner to the Cucumber. The soil and treatment that grows the one will grow the other, though the Melon prefers a dryer atmosphere, and is more liable to die off after heavy rains than the former. To have it in perfection, it should not be grown in the vicinity of Squashes, Gourds, Pumpkins, Cucumbers, or any variety of the family, or it will invariably become impregnated with the inferior flavor of its congeners. In a small Garden, it is not possible to grow all these sorts without contamination. It is therefore better to plant all Squashes and Pumpkins in the field. A bed twenty-two feet square will grow sixteen hills, each six feet apart. Mark the spaces by the line each way; dig out the earth one foot deep and two feet wide, spreading it about; then fill up the holes thus made six inches higher than the surrounding ground, with rich, light compost—very old, rotten manure, sand, and garden earth, in equal parts, will do. Into these conical heaps or hills, about the first of May, sow eight or ten seeds, half an inch deep and a few inches apart. As soon as the plants have made two rough leaves, thin them out, leaving four only to each hill. When each have made four or five rough leaves, pinch the point of each shoot to make the plants branch out and fruit