198 OT RAISING MELONS. SECT. XIV, 



ftalk; and it" they give not a full and pleafant /cent, 

 th-v will not prove good. Always cut mek>ns m the 

 morning, and if fully ripe, they fhould not be kept more 

 than two or three days. If a mJon is cut before it is 

 ripe, ('tis faidj it may be ripened, by wrapping it clole 

 up in cloth, and placing it in a heap of warm horfe 

 dung for twenty-four hours. But the better way 

 Wotwd probably be, to treat them as unripe medlars, 

 which article fee, in Sect. 17. y 



* # * * <* * 

 A second crop of melons is to be had, by fow-- 

 ing (in- any other hot-bed, or one made on purpou-; 

 from Mid-March to the beginning of Jprit, according 

 to lituation, as in a favourable one the fowing may be 

 ventured on the later. Thefe muff be brought up as 

 before, t\\\ flopped, and then ridged out; i. e. when about 

 a month or five weeks old. The method of which 

 ridging is, to make a trench in the ground four feet 

 ■wide, and deep according to the foil :, If the ground is 

 dry, it may be from a foot to two feet deep, or otherwife 

 but a few inches. Lay in hot dung full two feet and a 

 half thick, being well fhook and beat together with the 

 fork. • This trench muff be of length according to the 

 number of plants deligned to be put out. For each hole 

 (which Ihould be full four feet afunder) put on good 

 melon earth, laid up in a round hill, to fifteen or eighteen 

 inches high ; and then lay the earth, thrown out of the 

 trench, to the fides and top of the bed, about three or 

 four inches thick, breaking it fine, atid cover all over 

 with mats to draw up the heat : But never expect ridged 

 out melons (particularly) to do well in a light foil. 

 When the earth is. warm, put in the plants, two in a 

 hole (or only one) giving a little warm water, and cover 

 with large: hand or bell glalfes, or oiled paper lights, 

 and proceed to manage according to that dif rchon 

 which, the directions already given about melons and 

 cucumbers have inculcated, 



As 



