Ravenscroft. W. D. Brinckle.
Size large; form oblong; skin dark-green, faintly striped and marked with green of a lighter shade, and divided longitudinally by sutures from an inch and a quarter to two inches apart; rind not more than half an inch in thickness; seed cream-color, tipped with brown at the eye, and having a brown stripe around the edge; flesh fine red, commencing abruptly at the rind, and extending to the centre; flavor delicious and sugary; quality "best."
This valuable water-melon originated with Col. A. G. Sumner, of South Carolina.
Souter. W. D. Brinckle.
Size large, sometimes weighing twenty or thirty pounds; form oblong, occasionally roundish; skin peculiarly marked with finely reticulated, isolated, gray spots, surrounded by paler green, and having irregular, dark-green, longitudinal stripes extending from the base to the apex; rind thin, about half an inch thick; seed pure cream-white, with a faint russet stripe around the edge; flesh deep-red to the centre; flavor sugary and delicious; quality "best." Productiveness said to be unusually great.
This excellent variety originated in Sumpter District, South Carolina.
PAPANJAY, OR SPONGE CUCUMBER.
Papangaye. Vil. Cucumis acutangulus.
This is an East-Indian plant, with a creeping stem, and angular, heart-shaped leaves. The flowers (several of which are produced on one stem) are yellow; the fruit is ten or twelve inches in length, about an inch and a half in diameter, deeply furrowed or grooved in the direction of its length, forming ten longitudinal, acute angles; the skin is hard, and of a russet-yellow color; the seeds are black, rough, and hard, and quite irregular in form,—about five hundred are contained in an ounce.