Show MELONS OF EGYPT ARE GROWN IN SOUTH DAKOTA direct descendants from the very melons which our hebrew bretherd Br so loudly bewailed while traversing Traver sins the desert A new melon in which the seeds are separate broin the flesh and Is ably a type of the earliest melons known and the children of israel wept again and said e remember the which e did eat in egypt free ly the cucumbers and the melons and now our soul Is dried away there is nothing at all beside this manna numbers 11 5 this Is perhaps the first well re corded case of a riot over the menu ot out party but that Is not the point of interest so much as that this also Is the first record of the melon nor really can it be won dered at that there was some digap at the loss of the melons though we have no real idea in these days of what manna was 01 its tooth so the melon 0 Is supposed to have been of african origin though from anything raised in america the outside la a pile yellow and ribbed in size they are as large as the usual run of musk melons the flesh Is a deep orange in color ery thick very sweet and tra giant the peculiarity of this melon la in the arrangement of the seeds they are not spread through the flesh as in the american melons but are all in a hard mass in the center looking exactly like a nub bin ol 01 corn the second photograph shows these seeds when the melor is cut this core Is taken out a stick thrust through it and it Is bung tc the rafters of the kitchen until melon planting time of the following year before planting the seeds are sep abated and then planted as any other melons are planted both sorts are prolific growers come early and go late they are among the first melons on the place to ripen and there are this la not certain the muskmelon has never been found in a wild state and Is supposed to have originated in india and to have been brought thence by way of persia melons from seed brought from armenia were cultivated three centuries ago at cantaluppi near rome and thence were introduced all over europe under the name of cantaloupes whence our pros ent name for them which 1 being supplanted in the market by the cog nomen of borky ford for once the cantaloupe gea into the hands of the dealer it may be raised in indiana or any other seaport but it Is always a rocky ford the two ac ompa nying photographs have great interest from two reasons they show melons which are new in this country and which are no doubt direct descendants from the very melons which our hebrew brethren so loudly bewailed while traversing the desert I 1 found them on the garden of martin doerksen whose farm Is in the flourishing mennonite settlement numbering a halt hundred families near the beautiful little city of meade kan there are two kinds of melons shown in the first photographs wa ter melons and muskmelons musk melons the watermelons water melons are in the heap in the center they are not strictly peculiar as compared with our american wa ter melons except that they are small nearly round very light in color on the outside and also on the inside and very sweet the three muskmelons musk melons at the bottom of the picture are en melons on the vines until frost comes AH the melons shown grew on tac vines and very many had beer plucked from the same vines mr doerksen stated that he brought the watermelon seed from the province ot Taur lda in southern rus sla and that U Is there called the astrachan the muskmelon seed he the seed brought from the shores of the cas plan sea and it Is called there the Klue melon it requires very little research when the history of the mennonites Is considered to connect these melons with the most ancient and historical forms of this fruit of the vine and the peculiarity of the arrangements of the seeds in the Klue melon would make it very attractive to the house wife because they are not mussy to serve the eater would enjoy tho absence of the seeds also properly cultivated it would probably produce a melon which would be in great demand AUEN AU EN |