582 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



3279. Time of beghinmg to force. From the time of sowing, ripe fruit may be cut 



m about fifteen weeks, as an average period : when many short and wintry days fall in 



the course, it may last eighteen weeks ; but when the forcing is not commenced till the 



days are nearly twelve hours long, and continually lengthening, ripe fruit is sometimes 



cut in ten weeks. The period also depends upon the sort. Little time is gained by 



beginning excessively early. The early and main crops are commonly originated from 



the middle of January to the first week of February ; the latter or succession crops, at 



the beginning of March ; and late crops intended to fruit at the end of summer, in the 



middle of April. 



3280. M'Pfiail and Nicol sow in January. The latter says, " I formerly cut melons, for three years 

 successively, on the 15th, 12th, and 10th of May, and never sowed before the last week of January, or first 

 of February. In 178S, when at Rainham Hall, in Norfolk, I sowed melons on the 12th March, and cut 

 ripe fruit on the feOth May. The kind was the early golden cantaleupe. This shows how little is to be 

 gained, or rather, how much may be lost, by early forcing." 



3281. Forming the seed-bed. The plants maybe originated in a cucumber-bed, and 

 this is the general practice ; but Abercrombie prefers a separate bed, built a slight degree 

 higher than that for the cucumber, at the same season, and adapted to a one or two light 

 frame, according to the quantity to be raised. Nicol raises the melon almost exactly in 

 the same way as the cucumber, and there is very little difference in his subsequent culture 

 of these plants. 



3282. Choice of seed. " Seed under the age of two years is apt to run too much to 

 vine, and show only male flowers ; but new seed may be mellowed by being carried in 

 the pocket a fortnight or more, till the heat of the body has dried and hardened it. Seed, 

 twenty years old, has been known to grow and make fruitful plants ; but seed, which 

 has been kept three or four years, is quite old enough, and less likely to fail than 

 older." 



3283. JSPPhail says, " It is best not to sow melon-seed till it be two or three years old. It cannot be 

 too old if it be sound and grow well. Young seed is apt to run too much to vine, and to show more male 

 than female blossoms." 



3284. Nicol says, " I have sown melon-seeds twenty years old, from which I have raised very healthy 

 and fruitful plants." [Kal. p. 396.) 



3285. Miller and Nicol say, young melon-seeds may be worn in the pocket, near the body, for several 

 months previous to sowing, which has the effect of fully maturing them. " If seeds of the last season," 

 Nicol observes, " be sown without taking this precaution, or something similar, the plants will not be 

 fruitful ; but will run much to vines, and show chiefly male blossoms." 



3286. Soiling. Abercrombie says, a Having moulded the bed, and proved the heat, 

 sow in pans three inches, or pots four inches, deep, rather than in the earth of the bed. 

 Sow a second portion in five or seven days, to provide against failure. Do not at once 

 plunge the pots to the rims." (Pr. G. p. 108.) 



3287. Treatment till removed to the fruiting-pit. " As soon as the plants appear, give 

 air cautiously ; guarding the aperture with matting at night, and on frosty or gloomy 

 days. At favorable opportunities, wipe the condensed steam from the glasses. When 

 the seed-leaves are about half an inch broad, prick the plants into small pots five inches 

 in diameter, three in each pot, giving a little aired water just to the roots ; then plunge 

 the pots into the earth of the hot-bed partially, or to the rims, according to the heat. 

 Admit fresh air, every day in moderate weather, at the upper end of the lights, raised an 

 inch or two, according to the temperature of the external air ; more freely when sunny 

 than cloudy ; shutting closer, or quite close, as the afternoon advances towards evening, 

 or sooner, if the weather changes cuttingly cold ; and cover the glasses every night with 

 mats, and uncover in the morning, as soon as the sun is high enough to reach the frames. 

 Give occasionally a very light watering, when the earth appears dry. As the plants 

 advance into the first rough leaves, the first runner-bud in the centre should be stopped, 

 by cutting or pinching the top off, close to the first or second joint ; an operation which 

 strengthens the plants, and promotes the lateral issue of fruitful runners. Be careful to 

 support a regular tenor of heat in the bed, by laying, first, an outward casing of straw- 

 litter round the sides, to defend it from the weather ; afterwards, if the heat declines, 

 remove the above casing ; and apply a moderate lining of hot dung to one or more of 

 the sides. In matting at night, be careful not to drive the rank stem of the linings into 

 the beds, by letting the ends of the mats hang down." 



3288. Fruiting-bed. Form it as directed for the cucumber-bed, but six inches deeper ; 

 M'Phail says, " four feet high, and after it has stood about a week, tread it down and 

 make it level, and set the frames upon it." 



3289. Moulding the bed. Abercrombie directs to " mould it by degrees to eight, ten, 

 or twelve inches' depth ; first laying the compost in little hills of that thickness, one under 

 each light, with the intervals earthed only two or three inches, for the present, till the 

 general heat is moderated." M'Phail lays in under each light a small hill of earth about 

 one foot high. 



3290. Planting. When the earth of the hills is warmed by the heat of the bed, and 

 the plants have leaves two or three inches broad, or have begun to push lateral runners, 



