MELONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



Another English writer gives the following description of Strawberry Hill, whichaccords 

 entirely with our own impressions : 



"A place more intrinsically paltry docs not exist: dirty, dingy walls, rough coated with 

 mortar and pebbles, and surmounted by wooden battlements, of which the founder him- 

 self outlasted three generations; bounded on two sides by the high road, with all its dust, 

 noise and publicity; the rooms low, dark, and with the exception of the long galler}^, de- 

 void of proportion; the grounds limited to a very small space, and that limitation ren- 

 dered still more conspicuous from the attempt to crowd into it temples, grottoes, and sta- 

 tuary; the onl}^ merit of Strawberry Hill is one with which Horace Walpole had noth- 

 ing to do, namely — the view of the river commanded by this piece of architectural gim- 

 crackery. 



"Walpole seemed altogether to forget, in what he chose to consider his restoration of the 

 pure gothic, that the essential character of that style is grandeur and sublimity; and that 

 without space and magnitude, all examples of castellated gothic, must be contemptible. 

 The classic styles admit of being applied to buildings, either great or small; and seem to 

 equal advantage in the Temple of Minerva or the Lanthorn of Demosthenes. But to the 

 gothic, [where one goes beyond a mere cottage,] breadth and altitude are essential; and 

 the attempt to illustrate its character and beauties in lath and plaster, at Strawberry Hill, 

 has produced only a very ugly, fragile, and incommodious structure, destitute either of beau- 

 ty or sublimity." 



We have held up Strawberry Hill to public notice, because we have seen one or two in- 

 stances of this kind of virtuoso amateur compilation on this side of the Atlantic. We 

 could name one example, at least, where over one hundred thousand dollars have been 

 spent in a private residence, in a miserable battlemented gothic style, most solidly and 

 well built of brown sandstone — but hardly less tolerable in point of design, than Straw- 

 berry Hill. The owner was his own architect, disdaining all professional assistance, and 

 with the aid of a few books on gothic architecture, and a good builder, has hashed up a 

 building that he will most likely live to be ashamed of, as his friends now are, when he 

 might have set a noble example of pure taste to aid the architectural genius of a young 

 people. 



MELONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



BY A. GERALD HULL, NEWBURGH, N. Y. 



MuSKMELONS. — The rather flattering success which has attended my plantation of 

 melons, contrasted with the failure of many neighbors, especially during the past season 

 of unusual drouth, has elicited inquiries as to the method ; to which I cheerfully respond, 

 deferentially desirous of contributing even a mite to the rich treasury of modern horticul- 

 ture. The originalittj mainly consists in borrowing hints and facts from every available 

 source prior to experiment, in which many experienced cultivators will detect familiar 

 features; so that the method in publishing phraseology, may be described as "a new edi- 

 tion, compiled from the best authorities, with emendations and suited to the requirements 

 of the locality." It may be pertinent to state that the' culture was in the open air, or ex- 

 clusive of green-houses, frames or other mechanical expedients for forcing, insect protec 

 tion, &c. 



Planting. — Seeds, one and two years old, were planted dry, there being apparently no 



