THE MELON. 45 
bed should not be above one foot from the lower part 
of the roof—they must be trained back a little to reach 
the lower rafter before they can be brought forward 
up the roof, so that probably two feet will be the dis- 
tance the plants will have to travel up a stick before 
they can be stopped, and this must be done as soon as 
the point fairly reaches the rafters. This will cause 
them to make two or three shoots, on which probably 
fruit may show. If so, nip them off, for no fruit must 
be allowed to remain yet, not till the plants have 
reached three or four feet up the rafters, then nip out 
the points of each leader. This will induce a lateral to 
each leaflet below, and on these will be the fruit. 
As soon as one fruit on every third lateral has set, 
cut all the rest of the laterals off, leaving the one with 
the set fruit on it. The setting of the fruit consists 
in stripping the petals from a male blossom, leaving 
the stamens which contain the pollen. Then take the 
female or fruit-bearing flower between the two fingers, 
holding it steady, and twirl the anthers containing the 
pollen in the stigma, or centre of the blossom, on the 
fruit, fix it there, and leave it for fertilisation. This 
setting must be done at a suitable time, 7.e. when the 
flowers are wide open and dry. Allow one of the top 
laterals to each leader to remain as a leader to advance 
up the roof so as to cover it. Train them in regular 
Grape-vine order, keep the vines thin, and by stopping, 
an abundant crop of fine Melons will be had all over 
the roof. 
It is rather difficult to manage Melons in a con- 
tinuous and successional crop, that is, constantly ripen- 
ing fruit, with others continually coming on, for those 
that are ripening and coming to that state are apt to 
