MELON. All our valuable members of the cueurbilacece„ belong originally to the East, and to central Asia, but the preciss home of no one of them is known certainly, since the native plant of no one species is found growing wild, on account of their cultivation from remote antiquity. The home of the muskmelon is supposed to be the Caucasus, and since the Jews bewailed the loss of the watermelon, during their wanderings in the wilderness, this fruit was certainly cultivated in Egypt, previous to the Exodus. To this day the muskmelon reaches its greatest perfection in Persia, and the pulp of the watermelon furnishes an article of food during its season to the modern Egyptians. The watermelon was carried by the Arabians in their western emigration, and after the discovery of America they were quickly and widely dis seminated. The cucumber family, in all its branches, found here a genial climate, and in no country in the world are the whole tribe, includ ing melons, pumpkins, and squashes, so widely cultivated. The best soil, for both, the musk and watermelon, is a light, rich sandy loam, but they will grow well on good prairie soil, if well drained, and the lands are ridged up to corres pond to the width of the rows at which the hills. should be planted, nine feet for watermelons and seven feet for muskmelons. It is an error to suppose that the melon will thrive in a poor soil. Each hill, even on good corn land, should have a half bushel of good compost manure.
For field culture, dead furrows may be thrown out at the proper distance for the rows, cross, mark the land at equal distances and in the checks, throw half a bushel of rich compost, turn four furrows as deeply as possible over this, cross mark again over the remains of the check rows to designate the hills, with a plow, then plow the balance of the lands; plant plenty of seed, not less than ten or fifteen to each hill. The cultivation is simply to keep the soil clean, many throwing earth -always to the plants until the vines render plowing no longer possible. When the plants are out of the way of the cut worms and striped beetles, thin the plants to three in a hill. If the land gets weedy, after the vines run so as to interfere, turn them back with the handle of a hay rake, cultivate the balks, turn the vines back again, and so proceed until the field is finished. It should be unnecessary to say that both watermelons and muskmelons are among the most as they are the most grateful of fruits, if ripe and eaten fresh from the vines, and particularly unhealthy if green or stale. There is no reason why farmer should not raise an abundance of these fruits, since their cultivation is precisely like that of the pumpkin and squash. Indeed, we have grown very good late melons among Indian corn, as it is not uncommon with pump kins.