te_. There is a fine little melon, called the orange-melon,
because the flesh and skin separate like an orange. These varieties will
all do well with care. To preserve any one of them, it must be grown at
some distance from other varieties. All water-melons should be far
removed from citrons, which resemble them, raised only for preserving.
They always ruin the next generation of water-melons. Different
varieties of musk-melons planted together produce hybrids, partaking of
the qualities of both, and are often very fine. We raised a cross
between the yellow-fleshed cantelope and the nutmeg, which was
excellent.

Seeds of most vines are better for being two or three years old, as they
produce less vines, but more fruit. Melons are a luxury that should grow
in every garden, and the state should enact severe laws against stealing
them, making the punishment no less than fine and imprisonment.

MILLET.

This is a species of grain, partaking much of the nature of a large
grass. Sowed thin, it produces a good yield. The seed is excellent for
fowls. Ground, it is good for keeping or fattening all domestic animals.
It is about equal to Indian corn for bread. Cut while green, but when
nearly ripe, it is a good substitute for hay, producing a much larger
quantity per acre. All animals prefer millet, cut in the milk, to hay.
It is a less profitable crop for grain, on account of the irregularity
of its ripening, and its extreme liability to shell, when dry. It must
be cut as soon as the seed begins to harden. It also attracts swarms of
birds, which are exceedingly fond of the seed. About three tons per acre
is an average crop on tolerably good land. From one to three pecks of
seed to the acre are sown broadcast. When sown in drills and cultivated,
it grows very large, and requires only four quarts of seed per acre. It
will make good fodder sown at any time from April to July. Its more
extensive cultivation for fodder is recommended.

MINT.

This genus of plants comprises twenty-four species. Those usually
cultivated in gardens are three, _Peppermint_, _Spearmint_, and
_Pennyroyal mint_. All mints are propagated by the same methods. Parting
the roots, offset young plants, and cuttings from the stalks. Spearmint
and peppermint like a moist and even wet soil. Pennyroyal does better in
a rich loam. Plants come into use the same season they are set. Set the
plants eight inches apart, and on beds four feet wide, leaving a path