CUCURBITACEZ. 
Time of maturation.—* The interval between the setting of the 
fruit and perfect maturity is generally from 30 to 40 days; but 
the plants in the same bed, and the vines on the same plant, 
often show some difference in the time of reaching maturity.”— 
Abercrombie. 
Cutting the fruit.— Ripe melons are distinguished by their 
full size ; sometimes by turning yellowish, more constantly by 
imparting an agreeable odour, often by the base of the footstalk, 
close to the fruit, cracking in a little circle. On these indica- 
tions, the fruit should be cut before too mellow or dead ripe, 
that it may eat with a lively sharp flavour. The morning is the 
time for cutting.” Melons, Nicol observes, “ if allowed to 
remain on the plant till they be of a deep yellow colour (which 
many do) lose much of their flavour. They should, therefore, 
be cut as soon as they begin to change to a greenish yellow, or 
rather, as soon as they begin to smell ripe. They may lie in 
the frame for a day or two, if not immediately wanted, where 
they will acquire sufficient colour. But if they are let remain 
many days in the frame, they will become as insipid as if they 
had been left too long on the plant.” 
Saving seed.—“ The ordinary mode is to request the seeds of 
particularly fine fruits, of approved sorts, to be returned from 
table. The best way, however, is to pick some of the best 
ripe fruit, take out the seed, clean it from the pulp, and let it 
be well dried and hardened, and then put it up in paper.”— 
Abercrombie. Nicol says, “ wash it very clean, skimming off 
the light seeds, as those only that sink in water will grow.”— 
Kal. p. 396. Great care must be taken that the sorts, from 
which seeds are saved, are genuine and distinct.- When different 
sorts are planted in the same frame, this cannot be the case. 
Second crop from the same planis.—“ When the fruit of the 
first crop is off, a second crop may be obtained from the stools, 
which often proves more productive than the first. If the first 
crop is taken before the middle of June, the second will come 
in at a very good time. For this purpose, as soon as the fruit 
is cut, prune the plant, shorten the vigorous healthy runners at 
a promising joint. At the same time take off all decayed leaves, 
stir the surface of the mould, and renew it partially by 3 inches’ 
depth of fresh compost. Water the plant copiously, shutting 
down the glasses for the night. Shade in the middle of hot 
days, and give but little air until the plants have made new 
radicles and shoots. Afterwards repeat the course of culture 
above described, from the stage when the first runners are sent 
out till the fruit is cut.” Nicol says, “ When all the fruit of 
the first crop are cut, suppose in 3 or 4 weeks, the plants may 
be pruned for the production of a second crop, equal and 
perhaps superior to the first. They should be cut pretty much 
in, in order to cause them to push plenty of new vines, which 
will be very fruitful, observing always to cut at a joint of some 
promise, and to thin out all decayed or unhealthy vines, dead 
leaves, &c. Observe also to cut an inch or two above the joint 
you expect to push, and then to bruise the end of the stem so 
lopped with the thumb and finger, which will, in a great mea- 
sure, prevent it from bleeding. The plants should be shaded 
from the mid-day sun for a week or ten days, exposing them 
to his full rays by degrees. Now, also, let the mould in the 
frame be well watered, in order to put the roots in a state of 
active vegetation; point over the surface with a small stick, 
or little wedge, and cover the whole with about 2 inches of 
fresh mould. This will greatly encourage the plants, and cause 
them to make new fibres near the surface. At this period air 
need not be admitted very freely, especially while the glasses 
are covered, but rather as it were endeavour to force the plants 
into new life. After they begin to shoot, water, admit air, 
prune, train, and otherwise manage the plants as before directed. 
If the season be fine, they may yield you a third crop by a 
IV. Cucumis. 11 
repetition of the above rules, coming in in September, which 
might be very gratifying. I once had 52 full-sized fruit pro- 
duced in a 3-light frame, a second crop, and two dozen on a 
third off the same plants, the early golden cantaloupe. Of the 
first crop 26 fruit, two were cut the 10th of May. Thus, a 
3-light box produced, in one season 102 full matured melons.” 
M‘Phail says “if you intend to have melons as long as there 
is a sufficiency of sun to ripen them tolerably well, you had best 
put linings of warm dung to some of your beds. These, if 
applied in time and kept on, will cast fresh heat into the beds, 
and, with other necessary assistance, the plants will grow as 
long as you want them.” 
Plan of obtaining a second crop of melons.—“ When the first 
crop of fruit is nearly gathered, cuttings are taken from the 
extremities of the shoots which show the most fruit; these are 
cut off close under the second advanced joint, or about the fifth 
leaf from the top; the two largest leaves at the bottom of the 
cutting are taken off, and thus prepared, are inserted in 24- 
sized pots, two in each pot, in light rich soil, gently shaken down. 
After being watered, the pots are placed in a 1-light frame, on 
a hot-bed previously prepared, and plunged in the moder- 
ately dry soil, with which it is covered. The frame is kept 
close and shaded for a few days, and in a week the cuttings 
will have struck root. The old melon-plants, with the soil in 
which they grew, are now all cleared out of the frames, fresh 
soil tothe depth of 12 inches put in, and the beds well lined 
with fresh dung. In 10 days from the time of inserting the 
cuttings they will be ready to plant out, which is done in the 
usual way. When the plants have pushed about 14 inches, 
the end of each shoot is pinched off, to cause them to produce 
fresh runners, and the fruit which showed on the cuttings will 
swell rapidly, and in 3 weeks after replanting the beds, abun- 
dance of fine fruit may be expected. This way of getting a 
second crop is far more certain than either pruning back the 
old plants, or planting seedlings; because cuttings grow less 
luxuriantly, are less liable to casualties, and are much more 
prolific.” Harrison ex Loud. gard. mag. 2. p. 414. 
Cultivation of the Persian varieties of the melon.—T. A. 
Knight (Hort. reg. no. 6. p. 263.) erected a small forcing- 
house for the exclusive culture of this fruit, and grew them by 
means of fire heat. This house consists of a back wall, nearly 
nine feet high, and a front wall nearly 6 feet, inclosing a hori- 
zontal space 9 feet wide and 30 feet long. The fire-place is at 
the east end and very near the front wall; and the flue passes 
to the other end of the house, within 4 inches of the front wall, 
and returns back again, leaving a space of 8 inches only be- 
tween the advancing and returning course of it, and the smoke 
escapes at the north-east corner of the building. The front 
flue is composed of bricks laid flat, in order to give a temperate 
permanent heat, and the returning one with them standing on 
their edges, the usual way. The space between the flues is 
filled with fragments of burnt bricks, which absorb much water, 
and generally give out moisture to the airof the house. Air 
is admitted through apertures in the front wall, which are 4 
inches wide and nearly 3 in height, and which are situated level 
with the top of the flues, and are 18 inches distant from each 
other. The air escapes through similar apertures near the top 
of the back wall. These are left open, or partially or wholly 
closed, as circumstances require. Thirty-two pots are placed 
upon the flues, each being 16 inches wide and 14 inches deep ; 
but they are raised by a piece of stone or brick to prevent their 
coming in actual contact with the flues. In each of these pots 
one melon-plant is put, and afterwards trained upon a trellis, 
placed about 14 inches distant from the glass, and each plant 
is permitted to bear but one melon only. The height from the 
ground at which the trellis is placed, is such as can be con- 
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