Hence stone is used only for foundations. Burnt
bricks cost ^ i , and sun-dried 2s., per thousand.
Concerning things botanical, I had expected much
in Khivan fruits, especially the melons. They are a
most lucrative crop. With good management, Kostenko
says, an acre will yield from 10,000 to 14,000 melons,
and these, at 1 \d. each, will bring from ¿^ 0 to £70.
M. Brodovski says that about Samarkand an acre
yields 10,000 melons. The natives hang them in cool
chambers to the ceiling, where certain sorts will keep
from the time when they are ripe till the following May.
Matmurad gave us the price of melons from i2y. to
20s. a hundred. There are, of course, several varieties.
I heard o f one sort, small as an apple, but pronounced
very good ; some are a foot and a half long. On their
winter melons Matmurad did not appear to set much
store, but said that two varieties, ripe at harvest, were
sweet as sugar, though they would not keep. My host
gave me seeds of five kinds, which, as did Captain
Burnaby, I brought to England, hoping that I might
be more fortunate than he in raising them. I must say
that, after eating Central Asian melons, I have tasted
none in England that are by comparison worthy of
mention. Those I ate in Constantinople came nearest,
and hence, believing that I had real treasures to give,
I distributed the seeds to such of my friends and
acquaintances as had convenience for growing them.*
* The five kinds were called (i) K ita i (or Chinese); (2) Zameha; (3)
Kukcha, all sown in Khiva in April, and ripen in about two months, or
say the beginning of June ; whilst the remaining two (4) Sherin-fiitchek,
and (5) Alikeh, are ready a week or two later. Mr. J. D. Allcroft sent
me the first fruit in 1883, less than a foot long, somewhat pear-shaped,
of green flesh, but tasteless, and not juicy—I fear not quite ripe. Earl
Stanhope kindly tried some seeds the same season at Chevening. Mr.
Gray, the head-gardener, informs me that one plant was raised of such
rampant growth that it ran on a trellis over a space of nearly 200
Apples were easily obtained in Khiva, and cost from
24s. to ¡os. per cwt., grapes 4s. a batman, or id. per
lb., and peaches in the season up to half that price.
O f mulberries they take so little account as not to pick
them for sale. The Khivans cultivate many flowers,
they said, but not peas, and neither Matmurad nor the
square feet, covering half the roof of the glass house, and then would
have spread further if permitted. It was planted early in March in an
ordinary loam and leaf soil, with bottom heat. For a long time the
blossoms, with one exception, did not set, and that one produced a
large ovate melon of 10 lbs. weight. Subsequently other blossoms set,
and were growing' fruit weighing 3 or 4 lbs. each, when unfortunately
the plant gave way through rot at the collar, and died. The plant took
quite 5 months to grow. The large melon was cut a little too early,
and was lacking in the juicy qualities it probably would have acquired
had it been left longer on the plant; but the gardener considered it
a good melon. Next year three sorts were tried by Mr. A. F. Barron,
of the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens at Chiswick ; but he did
not report very satisfactorily upon them. Of those he tried, one did not
fruit, a second produced two long ovate melons, and the third, round
fruit. These ripened, the flesh being tender, very juicy, even watery,
but not by any means rich. Mr. Barron adds, “ They were rather
rampant in growth, and did not fruit readily, but the foliage was
somewhat destroyed by the hot sun, and this, no doubt, affected the
fruit.” Mr. Wildsmith, of Heckfield gardens, near Winchfield (Viscount
Eversley’s), spoke of the “ Alikeh ” as best of the three kinds he raised,
and not so rampant in growth as the other two, but, though speaking of
the “ Zamcha ” as excellent, thought them no better in quality than
English melons. The Zamcha was tried also at Burghley Gardens (the
Marquis of Exeter’s), by Mr. Gilbert, who is famous, I am told, for
growing melons, and he exhibited from my seed a fruit weighing i i f lbs.
at the Royal Horticultural Society’ sshow on September 9th last. Another
fruit from the same plant, weighing 9^lbs., was of green, deep flesh,
and though not of very rich or aromatic flavour, was liked for its great
juiciness. The appearance of the “ Kitai ” melon, as reported on from
Burghley Gardens, was not flattering, being “ precisely like a large
vegetable marrow, and of a dark green colour.” I sent seeds to my
friend Dr. Haughton to be tried in the botanical gardens of Trinity
College, Dublin. He committed them to Mr. Burbidge, who distributed
some seeds to a few English gardeners, who made melons a speciality.
From the correspondence that ensued I learn that Mr. O’Donovan,
who penetrated to Merv, thought the introduction of Central Asian
melons to Europe so desirable, that he carried some of the seeds in his