210 OF RAISING MEtONS. $CT. XIV. 



per swell. When a melon has nearly attained its size, 

 then, however, a full sun is necessary to ripen it. 

 . As to cutting the fruit, if it is to be some days 

 before a melon is to be eat, (as when carried to & 

 distance) it -should not be quite ripe. Its ripeness is 

 known by the high colour, strong odour, and the 

 cracking of the footstalk; and if they give not a 

 full and pleasant scent, they will not prove good.- 

 "Always cut. melons in the morning, and if fully ripe, 

 they should not be kept more than two or three days. 

 If a melon is cut before it is ripe, ('tis said) it may 

 be ripened, by wrapping it close up in cloth, and 

 placing it in a heap of warm horse dung for 'twenty- 

 lour hours. But the better way would probably be, 

 to treat them as unripe medlars, which article 

 in Sect. 17. 



A SECOND CROP of melons is to be had, by sow- 

 ing (in any other hot-bed, or -one made on purpose) 

 from Mid-March to the beginning of April, accord- 

 ing to situation, as in a favourable one the sowing 

 may be ventured on the later. These must be 

 brought up as before, till stopped, and then ridged 

 out; i. e. when about a month or five weeks old. 

 The method of which ridging is, to make a trench in 

 the ground four feet wide, and deep according to the 

 soil : If the ground is dry, it may be from a foot to 

 two feet deep, or otherwise but a few inches. Lay 

 in hot dung full two feet and a half thick, being well 

 shook and beat together with the fork. This trench 

 must be of length according to the number of plants 

 designed to be put out. For each hole (which should 

 be full four feet asunder) put on good melon earth, 

 laid up in a round hill, to fifteen or eighteen inches 

 high; and then lay the earth, thrown out of the 



