22 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ Jaanory 13, 1870. 



moved away from tbo wall, the boles filled up, and the walla 

 whitewashed ; then there is the sheltering and pruning : so 

 that, unless where labour is comparatively cheap, as it is in 

 the neighbourhood of Paris compared at least with London, I 

 hardly fancy that it would pay better than our system, and I 

 question whether after all as large a quantity of Peaches might 

 not be had from a space of wall covered with a large tree 

 trained on the English system, as if it were filled with a larger 

 number of trees trained on the French system. And I would 

 again repeat it, that in no private garden where the attention 

 of the gardener is called off to fifty different things, could such 

 a system be successfully carried out. Why do the French 

 Peach-growers, with their favourable calcareous soil and bright 

 summers, allow the Parisians to be dependant on English 

 gardeners for good Peaches in May or June ? Might not heated 

 orchard houses of a cheap and simple nature be found a pro- 

 fitable speculation? 



Does this system make Peaches so much more abundant in 

 France than in England? I left England in the middle of 

 August ; the last of the house Peaches were being then sold in 

 Covent Garden, they fetched 2s. 6d. a-piece at Solomon's — I 

 went to Chevet's, on the Boulevards, the day after, and found 

 the Montrenil Peaches selling at one franc and a half, but I 

 should have much preferred the English. By-the-by, what a 

 curious thing it is one hardly ever sees a Nectarine in Paris. 

 Of course there is an abundance of Peaches to be had all 

 through the summer, but I do not envy the taste of the man 

 who considers that there is anything of flavour in a "Peche 

 du Midi." 



My own conclusion, then, is simply this, that it is not a 

 matter of training but of protection that is, generally speaking, 

 the fault of our gardeners. A gentleman who has a wall ought 

 never to bo satisfied unless he have such asystem of covering 

 as my friend Mr. Badclyffe adopts, and with such a system, 

 carefully carried out, he may, I believe, generally calculate 

 (not always, as last season showed), on securing a crop of 

 Peaches. — D., Deal. 



CULTURE OF THE MELON. 



It might be interesting to some of your readers, but it would 

 serve no practical purpose, to trace the introduction of the 

 Melon from Persia into Italy, and from thence into Spain, 

 France, and England. Persia, we are told, is still celebrated 

 for its Melons. Travellers and residents in India have de- 

 scribed the Melons cultivated in that country to be of excellent 

 quality, but I do not think that they can be compared to the 

 varieties now grown in England. I had seeds of a variety 

 much prized in India, and named the Peshawah Melon, fruit 

 of which are brought into Bombay and sold at a guinea each. 

 Fruit ripened here in the autumn of last year, but it was 

 not in any way comparable to our English varieties. Grown 

 out of doors in India, under certain ciroumstances, the fruit 

 might be eatable ; it was not so cultivated under glass in a 

 Melon pit. 



In this country the Melon must be grown under glass, either 

 with or without the aid of bottom heat. The common old- 

 fashioned dung frame is the method pursued by the majority 

 of gardeners. This method is very well adapted for summer 

 work, but is very uncertain for growing early Melons. The 

 usual method of preparing the fermenting material is to obtain 

 a quantity of stable manure and freshly-gathered leaves, and 

 after throwing the leaves and manure together in a heap, it 

 is turned over two or three times until the " rank steam " is 

 thrown off. Then the ground is marked off a foot longer 

 and a foot wider than the frame, and on this the material is 

 placed. 



When a Melon bed is prepared in this way, not unfrequently 

 the material is overheated, and when linings are added to the 

 frame, the heat cannot penetrate to the centre of the bed. 

 When I first attempted to grow Melons at this place, stable 

 manure could be obtained in abundance, but no leaves. I 

 found an excellent substitute, however, in a quantity of tus- 

 socky grass, which was rather too common in the marshes . 

 Several cartloads of this I had grubbed up by the roots and 

 mixed with the dung. I have tried various methods to pre- 

 vent the material from bocoming overheated, and at the same 

 time to allow the heat from the linings to penetrate to the 

 centre of the heap when linings are required. I find the fol- 

 lowing to be as good as any : proceed to build up the heap in 

 the usual way until it is 18 inches high ; several rows of drain 

 pipes are then laid on the dung from back to front, at about 



2 feet apart ; a depth of 18 inches more fermenting material 

 is then laid over the pipes, when another row is laid on as at 

 first. The remaining material is now added, finishing the 

 heap 44 feet high at back, and 4 feet at the front. There will 

 be no danger of the heap heating too much, for the air being 

 allowed to circulate through the heap at intervals of 18 inches 

 by 24, prevents this ; and when the frame requires a lining of 

 hot dung, which will be in about from four to six weeks, the 

 heat will penetrate in the same way to the centre of the heap. 

 If drain pipes are not to be obtained, a layer of faggots placed 

 on tho ground for a foundation will be an advantage. In a week 

 or ten days the frame will be ready for the plants. 



The way I manage for early Melons is this : a heap of fer- 

 menting material is placed in the early vinery about Christmas, 

 and on this the Melon plants are raised ; six seeds are sown in 

 a 5-icch pot. The soil ought to be good, sweet, turfy loam in 

 a moderately moist state, as it is not desirable to water the 

 Melon plants before they are potted-off singly into clean-washed 

 pots of the same size. The young plants ought to be potted- 

 ofi as soon as the seed leaves are fully expanded, and ought to 

 be placed as near the glass as possible, as thus early in the 

 season they are liable to be drawn up weakly. 



Prepare the bed for the plants by placing a layer of tnrf 

 with the grassy side next the manure, covering the entire sur- 

 face of the bed, and in the centre of each light place a hillock 

 of good loam, without any admixture of dung, and on this 

 plant two of the Melons ; one plant would he enough for each 

 light, but two are safer, as they are rather liable to canker when 

 grown in this way. The leading shoot ought to be stopped at 

 the fourth leaf, and plenty of fruitful shoots will be thrown 

 out. Early in the season the frame will require to be double- 

 matted at night, especially in severe weather. The next opera- 

 tion will be setting the female flowers, and thiB ought not to 

 be done until as many are expanded at one time as are intended 

 for a crop. About eighteen fruit will be a good crop for a 

 three-light box if the frame is 6 feet by 12 ; more fruit may be 

 obtained, but not of such good quality. A sharp look-oat 

 must be kept for canker, and as soon as it is observed a little 

 dry lime must be applied to the part ; this will arrest its pro- 

 gress, and allow the plant to ripen off the fruit. 



Melons are also adapted for pot culture, and are useful for 

 filling vacancies in houses or pits. For pot culture the plants 

 ought to be prepared in tho same way as for growing in frames, 

 except that the leading shoot ought not to be stopped. A very 

 neat and elegant method of training for pot culture is to train 

 the plant to a trellis somewhat on the umbrella system. This 

 is composed of an iron rod, above which are fastened two 

 circles of stout iron wire. The outer circle ought to be 2 feet 

 in diameter, and the inner one 1 foot ; the stem should be 

 2} feet in height, and the fruitful shoots must be trained to 

 the circles. 13-inch pots are a good size to fruit the plants in. 

 The compost should be the same as before, but with some 

 rotten manure mixed with it. 



I now come to the best way of growing Melons, and that is 

 in heated pits or houses, the plants being trained to wires after 

 the manner of Vines. The form of house best adapted for 

 them is to some extent a matter of taste, as they do well in lean- 

 to's, span-roofs, or half-spans. The only objection to the equal- 

 span roofs is that there is too much glass surface exposed for 

 early forcing, otherwise there is no doubt that this is the best 

 form for summer. The form I most approve of is the half- 

 span, as this is adapted both for early and summer work. The 

 Melon houses here are 11 feet wide, and heated by four rows 

 of 4-inch pipes for top heat, and two rows of 3-inch pipes for 

 bottom heat. The beds run along the front, and are 5 feet 

 wide. The plants are trained to a moveable wire trellis, which 

 is moveable in order that the wires may be inches from the 

 glass in winter, and 15 inches in summer ; they were fixed in 

 this way to suit early Cucumbers, and one would suppose that 

 what is good for them would also suit the Melon. 



In preparing the plants for this system of culture, the lead- 

 ing shoot must not be stopped until it has nearly reached the 

 top of the trellis. The compost for Melons grown in this way 

 ought to be ten parts of good loam to one of rotten dung. 

 Some cultivators are careful not to allow any admixture of 

 manure with the soil used for Melons, but I think a little an 

 advantage. I planted two houses about the middle of Jane 

 last year, and as the trellis is raised from the bed about 2 feet 

 inches at the front, I had each plant in one of the houses 

 planted in a 2-feet-long drain pipe 9 inches in diameter. I 

 thought the plants would sooner reach the trellis, and, as they 

 were all raised from seed at the same time, that a week or two 



