166 Proceedings of the Horticultural Society. 



tables were ornamented, the most remarkable objects were som6 

 specimens of Persian melons, grown in the garden of Sir Thomas 

 Frankland. These were of great beauty, and their flavour was as 

 perfect as we imagine melons to be capable of attaining. It was 

 stated that they also possessed the merit of being more easily 

 cultivated than many of the Persian melons. When it is considered 

 how far more beautiful and delicious these kinds are than the common 

 red-fleshed, thick-coated, indigestible varieties with which our 

 markets are supplied, it is really matter of surprise that the latter 

 can find either cultivators or purchasers. 



July \st. 



Mr. Knight laid before the meeting his observations upon th(i 

 cultivation of the potatoe, the result of which was, recommending 

 the plants to be very close in the rows, but the rows very distant 

 from each other. He argued, that as it is a certain fact in vege- 

 table physiology that the quantity of matter elaborated by the leaves 

 and sent down by them towards the roots, depends upon their being 

 exposed to as much light as they can have consistently with the 

 due performance of their other operations, the placing such a plant 

 as the potatoe in circumstances under which one half of the leaves is 

 shaded and kept in comparative darkness by the other half, must of 

 necessity be absurd. But by letting the plants be close in the rows, 

 and the rows distant from each other, the greatest possible facility 

 is given the plants for arranging their stems in such a way as to 

 expose the whole of their leaves to the hght. We have no space to 

 enumerate the endless varieties of strawberries, pines, cherries, nec- 

 tarines, raspberries, and flowers, with which the meeting room was 

 ornamented. 



July \bth. 



We were much struck by the model of a bee-hive, which had been 

 received from a Mrs. Griffiths, of New Brunswick, in New Jersey. 

 It consisted of a square wooden box, opening at the bottom, and 

 fixed upon a framed stand ; a shallower box was adapted to the 

 top of this, into which the bees were to work when the lower part 

 was filled. The bottom of the box was in the figure of a truncated 

 inverted pyramid, and sloped off" so as to drain the interior effec- 

 tually. 



August bih. 



A long paper was read from Mr. Tredgold upon the theory and 

 practice of applying hot water to heating stoves. The writer treated 



