76 THE FORCING GARDEN. 
erack if much water is given to the plants; at the 
same time the half-grown fruit requires plenty of water 
in order to get it fine. It is better to get a batch of 
fruit all over the house if possible, and to ripen that 
batch. Cut them, as ripe Melons will keep for some 
time, and then encourage the vines to make good 
growth as much as possible by cutting in and giving 
liquid manure. All the second growth will now be full 
of fruit, and this crop may be had as fine as the first. 
The chief difficulty in Melon growing lies just 
here: during the ripening of the fruit, the withhold- 
ing of moisture to get good flavoured fruit gives an 
advantage tothe red spider. My plan was to get.a batch 
as fast as it was possible by keeping up a brisk moist 
heat till the crop was near perfection, then to give an 
abundance of air, and very little moisture for a few 
days till the fruit began to change to a paler colour, 
and when a strong perfume was given off by the fruit, 
to cut it, and as soon as ever the batch was cut to 
stimulate the vines as much as possible, as I have said 
before ; thus the red spider may be partially or wholly 
avoided. 
There are a multitude of sorts now catalogued, and 
no doubt each has some merit of its own; but in my 
opinion there is no better Melon than the Golden 
Perfection. It is of the most exquisite flavour and of 
a fine medium size. The old Beechwood is another 
splendid green-fleshed Melon. The latter is a round 
variety, and the former is a little oval-shaped. I think 
upon the whole that a round fruit looks better on the 
table than some of those long Vegetable-marrow-look- 
ing sorts. Golden Perfection is not out of the way 
as regards length, being only slightly oval. Munroe’s 
