Water-melon Sweet Pickles, page 221

Cut up the pared rind to the amount of 12 pounds. Put them into a vessel with salt thoroughly, but thinly, sprinkled through them. Let them remain so over night, that the salt may extract the water from them. Remove the water; then put them into an alum solution, in which they should remain 3 or 4 hours to toughen; then remove the solution. Put 4 pounds of sugar with 1 quart of vinegar, and heat until it begins to boil, when the rind should be put into it and cooked until done. Flavor with cloves, cinnamon or lemon to suit the taste.

Mt. Vernon Cook Book, Second Edition, 1908, Thompson Company Printers, Carthage, Mo.