76 THE FORCING GARDEN. 



crack 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 to the 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 Grolden 

 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. Grolden Perfection is not out of the way 

 as regards length, being only slightly oval. Munroe's 



