33fl 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIODLTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 15, 1874. 



with bat gentle warmth at first to give the plants a start, as 

 compared with those growing them in pits or houses with heat 

 throughout ? Scores, nay hundreds, can afford to grow Melons 

 if it can be accomplished — as it is with Little Hoath — iu a 

 frame or pit which has been placed over a hotbed for raising 

 plants from cuttings or seeds ; but if thev have nothing better 

 to doit with than Victory of Bath, they will have long to sigh 

 for the flavour " pleasing everybody." The latter variety is of 

 no use for cool treatment, but Little Heath is. 



Flavour in Melons, what is it, and how does it come ? Of 

 kind? If it results from kind, why is it not fixed? The 

 highest flavoured always are so, at every exhibition taking off 

 first honours. How are we to reconcile ourselves to flavour 

 existing one season in the new varieties, whilst in another we 

 find it in the old ? If flavour results from kind, how is it that 

 not one of the new equals the old? The flavour must either 

 be lost in the crossing and reerossing resorted to, or alleged, 

 or it cannot be transmitted by any act on the part of the 

 most skilful and experienced operator. Judgment, backed by 

 long experience and close careful observation, can and has 

 effected great variation from the original, iu most instances 

 resulting in improvement in some way, but it is seldom we 

 have any improvement in flavour. Let anyone grow all the 

 new kinds, whose name is legion, and compare them with the 

 old, flavour to be the test of merit. Put the round green- 

 flesh, and the oval green-flesh as well, against the Egyptian, 

 selecting its best form, Bailey's G.een-flesh ; put the white and 

 yellow oval forms, or round, against the Persian, taking Mere- 

 dith's Cashmere as the best form ; pit all the scarlet-fleshed 

 against Scarlet Gem, which is the best form of the old true 

 Small-fruited Scarlet or Red-flesh, and then tell us which of 

 the new ones with their admixture of Cantaloup, Rjck, and 

 other blood, is cqup.l in flavour to any of those named? We 

 shall by a trial such as this be able to arrive at a solution of 

 the great question, Which is possessed of the best flavour? 

 Not till then shall I set much value on the effusions of Melon- 

 raisers. 



By accident rather than design have originated our best- 

 flavoured Melons and other fruits. The modus operandi of im- 

 parting flavour remains to bo revealed. High or ill flavour is in 

 each kind to be found iu the superior and inferior treatment 

 to which it is subjected, but no one can give to a poor-flavoured 

 sort flavour surpassing the original. Subjects of high flavour 

 ocoasioually occur and most unexpectedly, often when a very 

 different result is anticipated. I may mention a case in point. 

 I have grown, I think, every kind of Melon at one time or 

 other, and tested most for flavour — the " everybody-pleasiug" 

 Victory of Bath not excepted, not one of them satisfying in all 

 points, and especially in flavour. Not before this year did I 

 attempt anything with Melon-crossing. I had some old sorts 

 which I thought might be useful, and amoagst them fished-out 

 Mounsden's Moreton Hall, which I did not wish to lose. Last 

 time it was sown (four yeai'S ago), its accompanying plant in a 

 two-light frame was to the best of my recollection WiUs's 

 Oalton Park Hybrid. Both are scarlet or salmon-fleshed, 

 Moreton Hall oval, and Oulton Park round. The fruit of the 

 kind sown for Moreton Hall this year is roundish-oval — more 

 round than oval, and the flesh a compound of salmon, green, 

 yellow, and white. It was only moderately netted, and slightly 

 high coloured (yellow), on the side next the sun. I was sur- 

 prised on cutting it, and more so when taking a thin slice, to 

 find what I had got. That one tasto was enough. Others not 

 unacquainted with the flavour of M-slons, said upon the first 

 taste that it was the best they ever tried, eo rich and juicy. 

 I attempted to cross it with other kinds, but the flower refused 

 the foreign pollen, and tho pollen applied to other varieties was 

 e lually ineffective. A correspondent of this Journal sent me 

 two or three years ago from Haddington or its neighbourhood 

 a few seeds of a scarlet-fleshed Melon, having the recom- 

 mendation of its not being subject to cracking when approach- 

 ing ripening. Its form the first year I had it was oval, slightly 

 netted, thick short footstalk, rind thin, white, mottled with 

 green, and hard ; fiesh thick, melting, and well-flavoured, 

 colour scarlet. It was a free grower, not a free setter, and the 

 fruit did not crack. Now this Melon has in the present year a 

 fruit nearly round, slightly netted, and the flesh is not scarlet 

 but green with a tinge of red in the cavity of the seed. The 

 kind was raised upwards of thirty years ago, if I remember 

 rightly, and is not in commerce. The flavour is not improved, 

 but if this should meet the eye of the correspondent who sent 

 it, I wUl gladly give him a few seeds of this Melon in its altered 

 form. 



Now, will anyone explain to me why these Melons should 

 change from scarlet to green flesh ? Why should these two 

 have green flesh and not Read's, Duke of Edinburgh, and 

 Cirencester Prize? Some agent had been at work, no doubt. 

 What can it have been? Crossiog? If so, and the change 

 from scarlet flesh to green gave flavour to one, why not to the 

 other ? la conclusion I will nams a few varieties. These are — 



BC ABLET- FLESHEI>. 



Little Heath, succeeding in a cold frame with a little heat at 

 starting, or without it. It is scarlet-fl'^shed, aad not despicable 

 in fl*voar. Valuable also f jr early and late work. 



^Bead's, vory free setting, of good size, round, handsome, 

 finely netted, without ribs. 



Duke of Edinburgh, oval, moderately netted, slightly ribbed, 

 large, anil handsome; rind mottled. 



GEEEN-FLESHED. 



Colston Basseti, round, moderately netted, medium size, free 

 bearing, flesh very pale green, nearly white. 



Victory of Bath (Gilbert's), very handsome, round, free- 

 bearing. 



'Cashmere (Meredith's and Gilbert's), fine, oval; well-kuown. 



lioijal Horticultural Prize, oval, free-beariug, thin rind, flesh 

 thick, mglting, and rich. 



M'HITE FLESHED. 



* Golden Gem, round, very handsome, large, and luscious 

 flavour. 



Queen Emma, oval, large, and handsome. It may be said to 

 be an improved Heckfield Hybrid, but that kind is excellent 

 and very free-bearing. Both are large. 



I have omitted Scarlet Gsm and Beechwood ; the latter 

 when true is one of the best green-fleshed kind?, and it has 

 remained longer in the seed lists than many, and it will again 

 come to the front, if we have it not already in a round, large, 

 flnely -netted kind in a new gaise. Biiley's Green-fleshed I 

 have also omitted, as it is too much ribbed ; without its ribs, 

 and with its high flavour, it would be simply nnapproachable. 

 — G. Abbey. 



ZONAL GERANIUMS FOR AUTOMN DECORATION 

 INDOORS. 



In October it is difficult to cut many presentable flowers 

 from beds or borders, chilly autumn rains with frosty nights 

 having placed their mark upon the outdoor garden. Never- 

 theless, flowers will be wanted, and they are, I think, more 

 enjoyed then than when there are so many to be seen around. 

 In October, and till the Chrysanthemums come in, it is gene- 

 rally a trying time to keep vases filled, but zonal Geraniums 

 have so well fiUed-up the gap for mo, that a note on the sub- 

 ject may be of service to others. For diversity and brightness 

 of colour, to say nothing of the ease of culture, there are few 

 plants equal to them ; no green fly, thrips, mealy bug, mildew, 

 or scale troubles them or takos up their grower's time. Neither 

 do they require peat brought from Kent, or sand from Bedford- 

 shire. Use turf cut from an old pasture, oi parings from the 

 sides of the road, stacked in narrow ridges, with a layer of 

 rotten manure between every 3-inch layer of sods. To this, 

 when a twelvemonth old, add a little sand or grit, also some 

 leaf mould if the turf has little fibre. My soil is miserably 

 poor, no fibre iu it, and I use a little bone dust and some 

 wood ashes, which appear to give a better colour to the 

 flowers. 



I take off my cuttings in spring for autumn flowering, so as 

 to avoid diminishing any of the summer bloom, which would be 

 inevitable if I took them in time to have them rooted before the 

 cold damp days and long nights came. In the beginning of 

 March, having a little Cucumber pit at work, a sandy mixture is 

 prepared, some 3-inch pots well crocked, and iu each of these one 

 cutting is inserted and labelled with its name. The cuttings 

 are placed on a shelf in the pit, slightly shaded, and carefully 

 watered till rooted. As soon as the roots show freely round 

 the outside of the ball the plants are shifted into 5-inch pots, 

 using the compost mentioned above. Those not so well rooted 

 go into 4-inch pots. Sometimes they are potted while in the 

 Cucumber pit; sometimes they are hardened off a little and 

 put in the vinery. It is immaterial which mode is adopted. 

 If I am late I pot them and keep them in the pit. Beware of 

 too much heat, and they must have abundance of water. Do 

 not saturate the soil on the one hand, nor, on the other, keep 

 them so dry as to cause flagging. A very common practice is 

 to pot and remove the plants to another place. 'This gives 



* These are the best of each colour, the selection being restricted to one 

 kind. 



