Sweet Siberian

Oblong fruit with a tapered neck are green with a dark green mottled pattern. Orange flesh. Great texture with no stringiness and very crisp. Moderately sweet and very juicy, but rather seedy. BRIX reading 8.8. Fruit measure 7.5-10 inches long, 5-7 inches in diameter, and weigh up to 9 pounds. Relatively thin rind, but does not split easily. Average productivity. Mid-season maturing. Brown seeds. Acquired by SSE from the USDA collection (PI 635683) which obtained this variety in 1963. A variety by this name was introduced by the Peter Henderson seed company of New York in 1899. They advertised it as "New Water Melon No. 3" the year before in an 1898 naming contest. SSE Accession # 127824