CULTURE OP THE MELON. 495 



will now produce laterals, which should be thinned, three or four only 

 being left on each of the four main shoots, and the others should bo 

 taken off close to the main stem out of which they grew. 



Varieties. The following are among the best varieties grown in 

 British Gardens : Queen Emma, Bromham Hall, Pine Apple, Tren- 

 tham Hybrid, Bailey's Eclipse, and Princess Alexandra, among green- 

 fleshed ; and Moreton Hall, Turner's Gem, and Lady Sefton among 

 scarlet. 



Very early melons may be grown in pots, one plant in each, to 

 mature one fruit, in the pine-stove, or in a house or pit on purpose, 

 where a wholesome high temperature is maintained of 75 or 80 ; the 

 fruit may be supported by being laid on a small earthenware saucer, 

 inverted into a larger one suspended from the roof. 



Seedlings. Melons planted out on a ridge, on a bed of tan, dung, or 

 leaves, under glass, may be advantageously cultivated in the following 

 manner. In any house, pit, or frame, where an atmosphere as above 

 described is maintained, sow some seeds in thumb-pots, one seed in 

 each pot, which must be kept near the glass after the plants are above 

 ground, and be allowed a free circulation of air, in order to rear the 

 plants as robust and short-stemmed as possible. Some prefer this mode 

 of cultivation : short cuttings taken off the leading or side-shoots, and 

 plunged in a strong bottom heat, under bell-glasses, root in a week or a 

 fortnight ; and plants so raised fruit sooner, and some cultivators think 

 more finely than seedlings. 



Planting Out. Plants being reared, either from seeds or cuttings, 

 healthy and robust, are, let us presume, in 32 -sized pots, about nine 

 inches higrh, with leaves as large as the palm of the hand. The hotbed 

 being made up to within eighteen inches of the glass, and a ridge of 

 loamy turf, mixed with one-fourth its quantity of dung, pulverized to 

 a mould, being laid along the centre of the bed, about twelve or four- 

 teen inches deep, a day or two previous to the planting of the melons, 

 and all fears of offensive steam from the bed or linings being 

 guarded against, the plants may be turned out of the pots along the 

 centre of the ridge, about one foot apart for a bed nine feet wide, or 

 for a six-feet bed about fifteen inches apart, with a fine sweet moist 

 heat, such as could be breathed comfortably, about 75 to 85. Excess 

 in quantity of heat is not so much to be feared as inferior quality of 

 heat. A strong heat will rarify the air and cause ventilation ; to 

 facilitate which, a small aperture should be left open, say a quarter of 

 an inch, at the top of every light, and this for eighteen or twenty hours 

 out of the twenty -four. 



General Treatment. Plants raised from cuttings show fruit with less 

 vine than those reared from seeds; and this is the best remedy, in 

 conjunction with keeping them rather dry at the roots, for the ever- 

 crying evil, that the " vines have run all over the bed without showing 

 fruit." When fruit appears, they must be carefully managed to pre- 

 vent sudden atmospheric changes ; and, during the time that they are in 

 flower, water overhead must be dispensed with, and gentle vapour only 



