Book I. 



CULTURE OF THE MELON. 



581 



best, largest, fine kinds, M'Phail observes, " as great an atmospherical heat, and a bottor 

 heat to its roots also, is required as is sufficient to ripen the pine-apple in this country ; 

 but as the melon is produced from an annual plant, the seeds of which must be sown 

 every year, it requires a different mode of culture. Different methods of treatment and 

 various kinds of earths and of manures have been recommended, and used successfully 

 in rearing of melons. The great thing after planting is to give them plenty of atmo- 

 spherical heat, and a sufficiency of external air and water. Those methods which are most 

 simple and the least expensive, and best calculated to assist in making a suitable climate 

 for the melon-plant to grow in and ripen its fruit well, should be preferred." 



3272. Soil. Abercrombie says, " The melon will succeed in any unexhausted loam, 

 rich in vegetable rudiments, with a mixture of sand, but not too light. The following 

 is a good compost : two thirds of top-spit earth from a sheep common, adding sharp 

 sand, if the earth contains little or none, till half is sand ; one sixth of vegetable mould ; 

 and one sixth of well consumed horse-dung. Or, if the earth is not obtained from a 

 pasture, rotted sheep-dung may be substituted for the last. The ingredients should have 

 been incorporated and pulverised by long previous exposure and turning over. The 

 compost should be dried under shelter before it is used, and warmed in the frame for 

 potting." 



3273. M'Phail says, " Melons will grow and produce fruit of a good flavor, if they be planted in any 

 kind of earth not of too light a texture, whether it be taken from a compartment of the kitchen- 

 garden or from a corn-field mixed well with good rotten dung ; but earth of a loamy nature is the best, 

 because it retains moisture longer than light earth. Earth dug from the surface of a common, where 

 sheep and cattle have long been pastured, is excellent for the melon. It should be broken well, and lie 

 a few months before it be used ; and if it be exposed to a winter's frost, it will do it good. This sort of 

 earth, if it be taken from the surface of the common, will require no manure the first year of using. I 

 would here mention, that unless the earth which I used for the melon-plants was very strong, I made it 

 a practice, when the melon-beds were wholly earthed up, to tread the surface all over, which makes the 

 earth retain its moisture longer than if it were left loose." 



3274. Nicol says, " Soil for melons may be thus composed : one half strong brown loam from apasture ; 

 a quarter light sandy earth ; an eighth part vegetable mould of decayed tree-leaves ; and an eighth part 

 rotten stable-yard dung. The mould for melons should be well incorporated] should be exposed to the 

 frost, and be frequently turned over to meliorate." 



3275. Sorts. The following list is given by Abercrombie : — 



Netted cantaleupe, large round 

 Early small black rock cantaleupe 

 Carbunoted rock cantaleupe, cheese- 

 shaped 

 Green cantaleupe (oblong rock) 

 Orange cantaleupe 

 Early golden cantaleupe 



Scarlet cantaleupe 



Silver cantaleupe 



Small romana, oval 



Larger netted romana, oval 



Polignac 



Musk, or oblong ribbed, netted.rinded 



Oblong, smooth-rinded 

 Round, smooth, green-rinded 

 Round white-rinded 

 Green-fleshed 



Water-melon, a very large roundish 

 green fruit. 



3276. Nicol enumerates the following, in the order in which they ripen : — 



The early golden cantaleupe 

 The orange cantaleupe 

 The netted cantaleupe 



The silver cantaleupe 

 The black rock cantaleupe 

 The carbuncled rock 



Lee's rock cantaleupe 

 Lee's romana 



Large netted romana 

 Fair's romana. 



3277. Estimate of sorts. " The cantaleupes are in high estimation for their general 

 superior flavor, although not uniformly such great bearers as some others in the list ; they 

 are besides admired for their handsome and curious shapes, some of them growing very 

 large. The netted cantaleupe is a good bearer; the fruit above the middle size, round, 

 heavy, full of juice, and high flavored. The early small black rock cantaleupe is a good 

 bearer : but there is a large black rock which holds an inferior rank, both for bearing 

 and the flavor of the fruit. Of the carbuncled rock there are two sorts : the smaller is 

 by far the best. The green cantaleupe has a dark green rind, with a pale pulp, grows 

 rather larger than the early black rock, and vies with it in flavor. The orange canta- 

 leupe is an excellent early variety, a great bearer ; the fruit under the middle size, but 

 juicy, and of the most generous flavor. The early golden, and the prolific, set speedily, 

 and soon ripen ; the fruit middle-sized, the flavor not so elevated as might be expected 

 from a cantaleupe. The silver cantaleupe bears freely ; the fruit middle-sized, and for 

 flavor ranking with the finest. The small romana is one of the most plentiful bearers, 

 either for an early or main crop ; the fruit not abundantly juicy, but good-flavored. The 

 larger netted romana bears more freely than large sorts in general; the fruit is sub- 

 stantial and heavy, a single melon sometimes weighing ten pounds, not so juicy as the 

 best cantaleupes, but the flavor high and grateful. The polignac is also a rich-flavored 

 fruit. The old oblong-ribbed is generally a good bearer, and the fruit agreeably flavored. 

 The other kinds also will ripen here in good perfection, except the water-melon, which 

 does not always ripen freely with a good full flavor. The principal culture, however, 

 the cantaleupes, romanas, and polignac, are indisputably preferable : any of the others 

 may be adopted in secondary crops, or for variety." 



3278. M'Phail says, " Several sorts of melons are not worth propagating, that is, in the estimation of 

 some persons ; but there are some kinds of them, such as the early cantaleupes and the rock cantaleupes, 

 which, when well ripened, are delicious in flavor, and very wholesome in quality. Of the varieties, there 

 are those called the rock cantaleupe, the early small black, large black, the orange, the golden, the silver, 

 the green, the carbuncled, the netted, the Roman, the musk, and the scarlet cantaleupes, and likewise 

 the oblong-ribbed, the smooth-rind, the round white, the green- fleshed, the water-melon* &c." 



Pp 3 



