CULTURE OP THE MELON. 493 



Early crops of the melon are with difficulty obtained in Britain, on 

 account of our cloudy atmosphere. Late crops are less liable to be 

 affected with disease from the greater degree of light and heat admit- 

 ting of more abundant ventilation. The varieties of the melon 

 belong to two rnces : the Persians and the Cantaloups. The former 

 are the most difficult to cultivate, requiring a very high temperature, a 

 dry atmosphere, and an extremely humid soil. The Cantaloups, which 

 are so named from a place of that name in the neighbourhood of 

 Rome, are cultivated throughout Europe with great success, although 

 from being generally inferior in flavour they are not so much grown 

 in England as the green-fleshed varieties, which have sprung in endless 

 numbers from the Persian stock. 



Summary of Culture of the Cantaloup qr Scarlet-fashed Melons. 

 " About four months may be allowed, on an average, for the period 

 between the sowing of melons and the ripening of the fruit. The 

 middle of January is found to be early enough to sow ; and the 

 young plants are so exceedingly tender that accidents are then very 

 likely to occur to them. It is on this account necessary to make suc- 

 cessive sowings, in order to be prepared for replacement, if requisite, 

 and also for continuing the supply throughout the summer. A sowing 

 for the latest crops will require to be made in April. Melons may be 

 grown by means of frames on hotbeds, or in pits, heated according to 

 some of the various modes of hot- water application, now so generally 

 adopted ; or, best of all, in low lean-to or span-roofed houses. But what- 

 ever be the form of the pits or houses, or the mode of heating adopted, 

 one point of essential importance is to have the sashes glazed with 

 British sheet glass, in large sheets, to admit as much light and have 

 as few laps as possible. The seeds are sown in pans, or in small pots, 

 and transplanted into other small pots when their seed-leaves are ' 

 about half an inch broad. It is best to put only a single transplanted 

 melon into each pot. In the process of potting, carry the stalk of the 

 melon up to the first leaves, and lay it along the side of the pot, and 

 plunge the pot up to the rim in a smart bottom heat. Meanwhile, a sepa- 

 rate frame, that which is intended for their future growth and fruiting, 

 is prepared for their reception by placing small hills, rather more than 

 a foot high, of light rich mould below each sash, and nearer to the 

 back of the frame than the front. Care must be taken that this mould 

 be of the proper temperature before the young plants are introduced, 

 which is to take place when they have made a few rough leaves. As 

 the roots extend, more soil should be added, of a gradually stronger 

 nature ; and ultimately the roots should have a depth of from nine 

 to eighteen inches of such soil. The soil should never be introduced 

 in a cold state ; and if there be no means for previously bringing it to 

 the temperature of at least 70, it should be put into the frame in 

 small quantities. When water is required, it should be given at a 

 temperature of 80. It should not be applied when the air of the 

 frame is at a high temperature from sun-heat, nor until the heat of 

 the sun begins to decline say at four o'clock in the afternoon. With 

 regard to pruning and training the runners or vines of melon plants, 



