232 MELONS. 



■where the plantg are set to give them a good start. During the 

 dry weather of summer, it will be of advantage to give them a 

 good watering with weak manure water twice a week. The 

 Melon Bugs, too, will need watching, and the very best remedy 

 we have ever found for these is a good hard pinch between the 

 thumb and finger. 



When the weather has become warm enough, the plants 

 should be carefully lifted, with the piece of sod on which they 

 are growing, and set out three or four in a place, and these 

 places about four feet apart each way. If the transplanting has 

 been well done the Melons will not feel the removal, and will 

 need only the usual care of occasional stirring of the soU, to keep 

 it loose and free from weeds. We have succeeded also very 

 well, in favorable seasons, by planting the seed in the hill where 

 the Melons are to grow, and thus avoid the labor and care of 

 growing in a frame and transplanting. It needs to be done as 

 early as the season will admit, which will be as soon as the 

 ground is warm enough to enable the seed to germinate, and not 

 to rot. When sown in the open air the plants are more liable 

 to be lost by a late frost, for there is no convenience for protect- 

 ing them after they are above ground, and then the only remedy 

 is to plant again. 



It is extremely difficult to speak of the varieties of the 

 several classes of Melons, usually known among us as Musk 

 Melons and Water Melons, on account of the great tendency to 

 deterioration by cross fertilization. The pollen from one variety 

 is carried to the flowers of another, and new varieties are in 

 this way constantly springing up, and such is the facility with 

 which this intermingling of sorts takes place, that it is almost 

 impossible to keep a variety pure if any other be raised in the 

 garden. The only way to get pure seed is to grow the Melon in 

 a frame, and, by means of the sash, keep it well secured &om 

 any chance of mixture until the young Melons are set. 



Green Citron. — A medium-sized Melon, with a thickly- 

 netted green skin; the flesh green, thick, very juicy, and of a 



