THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 67 



close and shaded until the plants make a start, and show by their 

 free growth that they are well established. They are earthed-up as 

 they adv^ance, and thus the hills grow with the plants. It is no 

 wonder that when the plants are raised in pots and treated subse- 

 quently as now described, they are frequently assailed with fly and 

 spider, and give the cultivator incessant trouble to keep them clean 

 and healthy. Our method is to make up good-sized hills in the 

 first instance, using two barrows of soil, at least, to each, and shut 

 up the frames for a few days ; by this time the hills will be nicely 

 warmed. Tlien we consider if the heat is too strong, and if it is we 

 subdue it by ventilating, and very soon the bed is ready for the 

 plants. We now lift them carefully with a trowel, and plant only 

 one to each light, in the centre of the hillock, which is raised so as 

 to bring the plant very close to the glass. If carefully handled, and 

 aided with the syringe, and kept as close as possible, without allow- 

 ing the heat to rise above 90°, they take hold of their new position 

 at once, and make a splendid start, and thereafter give very little 

 trouble ; for fly and spider have no relish for plants so treated. 



The question of soil is one of some importance. The melon will 

 not thrive in a liglit soil, and it is not well to incorporate with the 

 compost any considerable proportion of manure ; the top spit of a 

 pasture, where the staple is a stitf brown loam, will answer admir- 

 ably ; but it should be laid up some time previously, to get rid of 

 tipula grubs and wire-worms, and to rot the fibre in some degree. 

 Three parts of such soil, well chopped up with one part of well- 

 rotted hot-bed manure, will form a good compost, and in planting it 

 will be well to fill in round the root with a mixture of fine soil — 

 say equal parts of turfy loam, leaf-mould, and rotten manure, to 

 coax tbe roots into immediate action. 



The Summer Culture is simple enough, but the attentions 

 requisite must be regularly given, or disappointment of some sort 

 will be sure to occur. In the tirst place there should be no shading 

 from first to last, except when the plants are first put out, and even 

 then it will only be necessary if the weather happens to be very 

 bright, in which case two or three rhubarb leaves may be laid on 

 the glass, for a few hours every day, to mitigate the fervour of the 

 sun's rays. As to watering, we must differ from the books again, in 

 recommending a more generous treatment than is usually prescribed, 

 for melons are thirsty, and will be cleaner and more robust if regu- 

 larly syringed overhead, and kept nicely moist at the root by regular 

 watering cf the hillocks. They will not endure the degree of 

 humidity that cucumbers enjoy ; but they are often kept too dry, 

 and become the prey of various insect plagues in consequence. As 

 to ventilating, that must be to some extent regulated by the heat of 

 the bed and the state of the weather ; but as the plants cannot be 

 kept in health without plenty of air, it is desirable to ventilate as 

 freely as possible — consistent with maintaining a proper temperature. 

 With this in view, the cultivator will take care to have heat enougli 

 to render air-giving both safe and desirable. In many cases the 

 dry system is adopted because free watering has been found to 

 promote canker and damping at the collar. But if the drainage of 



March. 



