The Washington times., 1902-02-16

heard" he said. "and went to see for
| myself. l was greeted at the Office OF
| the experiment station by a sad-faced
agriculturist who told me that all the
experts were at the Agricultural Depart
ment, 1t being pay day. and he offered to
show me over the place.
Il accepted. and we were about to
start when the tired-looking Individual
in jeans asked me II I liked watermeions
1 told him ! did. and he went back and
got knife. saying that the Government
had several thousand melons on hand and
that, as they were only cultivated for
their seeds. and were not for sale. l
could sample as many as | cared to.
Seeking the WntermcIons
Then We started for the melon patch
passing many strange sights on the way;
corn thirty feet high: squashes OF i'm
mense size ard shape: fantastic cab
bages which grew straight up in the air
for five or six feet and never headed !:
hemp so straight and tall I'd thick that
it looked like great moss-covered stone
wall: peanuts the size of potatoes with
vines that looked like tangled under
brush: sugar beets two or three feet
long and of huge diameter: cotton with
bolls as big as your head and a great
many other things just as much out of
the ordinary
"At last we came to a big field where n
lot of melons were lying about. ripening
in he sun But my guide had evidently
forgotten that he had asked me if | liked
melons and didn't stop, so l picked out a
couple of likely looking big ones. about
three feet long and foot in diameter.
and said Look. here, my friend. just cut
will bnr Ln
good ones And | tapped the one nearest
with my cane and tried to look wise.
'WatermeloBs. said the tired-loOk-
ing man scornfully. 'watermelons, Them
amt watermelons. Tnem's cucumbers.
And I'll be blessed if they weren't. too.
for | made him cut one open to satisfy my
self.
The Real Melons mt Last.
after awhile we came to the real mel
on patch and / saw the difference. Hon
estly. I'd be ashamed TO tell you how big
the biggest were. There were lots as big
as barrels, though and some OF them were
freaks sure enough.
And there were melons in that patch
green outside and red inside. white out
side and green inside: melons vita normal
looking exteriors, but pink. or yellow. or
blue, or in fact every possible color with
in, and there were several varieties " lot
eign melons in which the meat had sever
al different colors in the same fruit. But
they we're all ripe and all tasted good. 1
tried them all, and l knew, and I'd be
willing to wager that my interior was
beautiful color scene when l LETT that
remarkable farm.
\ Wonderful Patch of Ground.
Just as / was leaving, continued the
man whose reputation for yeracity has
been questioned. my guide stopped me.
and pointing across the fields, said, i'm
pressively:
"'You see that little patch Of plowed
ground over there? Well, when the pre-
fessor first came down here to look after
things he used to stay nights so as to be
up early in the morning and work. One
night it was so hot that he pitched a
little shelter tent over there where I'm
pointing, spread rubber blanke. on the
ground, and went to sleep.
The Professors Discovery.
=. When he woke up in the morning
he found himself lying under the shade
of a big tree. There wasn't any tree
there when he lay down, and he thought
he was sure enough going crazy when he
looked up in the top of the tree and saw
his shelter tent caught in the branches.
Then, in a high state of excitement. he
began to examine the leaves of the
strange tree, and finally. after pinciing
himself, he realized what had happened.
81 You see ne had been carrying around
some of those seeds the Hindu magicians /
use to grow trees while you wait. Friends |