480 



THE SUREST MODE OF GROWING MELONS. 



We agree entirely with him, in his esti- 

 mate of the benefit which would accrue 

 from the possession of a great national gar- 

 den in this country. Its annual cost would 

 be a trifling one to the nation ; and the in- 



troducti)n of a single new plant, which, 

 like cotton, should become a great staple, 

 would pay the nation a hundred fold for all 

 its cost. We shall return to this subject at 

 some fitting opportunity. Ed. 



THE SUREST MODE OP GROWING MELONS. 



Nothing, in this country, surprises a gar- 

 dener from England, or the north of Eu- 

 rope, more than the facility with which, in 

 almost every part of the United States, 

 melons are grown. To go into the mar- 

 kets of New-York or Philadelphia, in the 

 month of August, and see not only the 

 markets filled with melons, of delicious 

 quality, and sold at a few cents each, but 

 besides, those countless sloop-loads, lying 

 at the wharfs, and wagon-loads, standing 

 in the streets ; all this gives him the im- 

 pression of having arrived in a tropical, in- 

 stead of a temperate climate. In fact, our 

 summers are as warm as those of the tro- 

 pics ; and all fruits or vegetables which de- 

 mand only a few months of growth to ar- 

 rive at perfection, succeed admirably in all 

 but one or two of the coldest of the eastern 

 states. 



There are two little obstacles, however, 

 to the easy culture of the melon in some 

 parts of the country. The first, is the 

 striped-hug, which makes its appearance 

 along with the first two leaves of the young 

 plant, and devours them sometimes in a 

 twinkling; so that, not unfrequently, it is 

 necessary to sow the seed two or three 

 times over to get a regular crop under way. 

 The second, is the shortness of the sum- 

 mers north of New-York, which makes the 

 melon crop, grown in the open ground, 

 rather later than is desirable. 



To guard against both these obstacles, 

 we have found the following simple me- 



thod, (which is not new to us,) so excellent, 

 and so certain, that we gladly recommend 

 it to all our readers who find their melon 

 crop unsatisfactory, from either of the two 

 causes pointed out : 



Provide j^ourself with a couple of com- 

 mon hot-bed sashes. Choose a sheltered 

 spot, in an open sunny aspect. Take two 

 or three boards, about eight or ten inches 

 wide, and, laying your sashes on the ground 

 side by side, mark their size on the surface 

 of the soil. Then make a frame, (or bot- 

 tomless box,) by nailing four pieces of 

 board together, so that the sashes will just 

 cover the frame. Set the frame on the 

 surface of the ground, the front (which 

 faces the south,) a trifle lower than the 

 back, so that the water will run off" the 

 glass. Level the surface of the soil inside 

 the frame. 



This frame should be made ready about 

 the time you would plant melons in the 

 open ground, — say, in this climate, about 

 the first of May. (If yoa desire an early 

 crop, you may commence ten days sooner.) 



The frame is intended, first, to start the 

 melons with a little more shelter than the 

 open air; and second, to guard them 

 against the striped-bug, till they are past 

 the danger of its attack; that is, till they 

 have made two rough leaves, when the in- 

 sect seldom troubles them. 



No manure is needed ; and, consequently, 

 scarcely any of the trouble of a hot-bed ; 

 none of the careful watching, and regular 



