ON THE TRELLIS. 85 



plant should be permitted, till it has done grow- 

 ing; and then another, and so on, as directed 

 for common beds. Pits do not require so much 

 watering as ordinary structures do, on account 

 of the earth being shaded by the foliage of the 

 plants resting on the trellis; but the walls 

 and air chambers, back and front, should be 

 sprinkled night and morning, when the fruit is 

 swelling, from the steam of which the plants 

 will be greatly benefited, and their roots moist- 

 ened near the brickwork, there being no fear 

 of over-watering here from the method of 

 drainage. 



Air should be given as for cucumbers, twenty 

 hours out_of the twenty-four ; and the melon in 

 the pit will then be cultivated in an atmosphere 

 in which it delights one indeed analogous to that 

 of its native soil, and attainable only by this me- 

 thod. The evening watering of the front cham- 

 ber, before covering up, will pass off in steam at 

 the back, so soon as the lights are raised for the 

 night air ; thus imparting a dewy moisture to 



