Melon

Melon, painted by Royal Charles Steadman in 1916 for the US Department of Agriculture. Royal Charles Steadman. U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705. Source; public domain.

Origin: East Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York, United States, about 1800
Raised by: Heman Chapin
Parentage: Parents unknown
Uses: Dessert
Picked: October, in Brogdale, Kent (the National Fruit Collection)
Skin: Medium-large, broad globose conical fruit; ground colour whitish yellow; over-colour red, striped
Flesh: Yellowish; firm, fine
Flavour: Subacid and aromatic
Also called: Amerikanischer Melonen Apfel; Amerikansk Melonaeble; Arnerikanischer Melonenapfel; Arnerikansk Melon; Melon Apple; Melon d'Arnerique; Melon de Norton; Melon Norton; Norton; Norton Watermelon; Norton's Melon; Pomme Melon d'Amerique; Pomme Norton; Watermelon

The record of the National Fruit Collection, at Brogdale in Kent, describes it¹:

Originated in about 1800 with Heman Chapin, East Bloomfield, Ontario County, New York, USA from seed brought from Connecticut. Introduced in 1845. Fruits have firm, fine, crisp, tender, yellowish flesh with a subacid and aromatic flavour.

Where Melon came from.

Sources

Melon (accession 1921 - 004), National Fruit Collection, Brogdale, Kent (Defra). Supports: the description quoted; the use; the fruit's size, shape and colours and the flesh, from the collection's characterisation; the picking time at Brogdale (mid october); the other names.

Sources

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