4io 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



this is one strong recommendation 

 in favour of the practice which I 

 recommend. True, these liberally 

 treated plants are apt to produce 

 rather large fruit, which for market 

 purposes especially are not desirable, 

 but this difficulty may be obviated, 

 and need not deter any one from 

 adopting the plan. 



" BOTTOM - HEAT. Many , culti- 

 vators lay much stress upon the 

 necessity for bottom-heat, this being 

 afforded either by fermenting ma- 

 terial or enclosed hot-water pipes, or 

 the two combined. I shall try to 

 prove that not only are these not 

 absolutely necessary, but they are 

 also not unfrequently a source of 

 danger and a cause of failure. At 

 the outset a bed of heating material 

 composed, say, of stable manure and 

 leaves, will give the plants an excel- 

 lent start, and they will be apparently 

 altogether superior to those started 

 without such bottom-heat. All the 

 while the heat lasts and the material 

 is still in good condition the pro- 

 gress is satisfactory, but when the 

 mass of material is decayed and gets 

 sodden with moisture the tempera- 

 ture is materially lowered, and other 

 evils follow. When the plants stand 

 in most need of assistance, viz. when 

 heavy crops are being matured, they 

 get much less than at the earlier 

 stages. A collapse is frequently the 

 consequence, and the plants are 

 either necessarily "dried off," or the 

 fruits are cut and placed on hot 

 shelves to colour or ripen where the 

 bottom-heat is principally afforded 

 by enclosed pipes; these, with the 

 assistance, perhaps, of a small bed 

 of heating material, answer very well 

 for a time, but later on the material 

 in contact with the gratings or slates, 

 as the case may be, becomes very dry 

 and non-conducting the bottom- 

 heat thus being wasted. This is by 

 no means an imaginary case, as I have 



several times opened the chambers 

 formed over hot-water pipes in order, 

 if possible, to discover why we ob- 

 tained insufficient bottom-heat, and 

 they have proved unbearably hot. 

 Then, again, unless the valves are 

 so regulated as to admit of all the 

 heat being turned on to the bottom- 

 heat, the chances are that during 

 warm weather they are not heated 

 at all. In this case the difference 

 between the top and bottom-heat 

 may be much too divergent for the 

 well-being of the plant. A healthy 

 root-action should be maintained as 

 long as possible, and the bottom- 

 heat should be equal to the top-heat. 

 Without at present going into de- 

 tails, I may state that our Melons 

 are planted in raised square mounds 

 of soil enclosed by loose bricks. The 

 bottom-heat is not enclosed or con- 

 centrated in any way on the mounds, 

 but these being well exposed share 

 more or less in the fluctuations of 

 the top-heat. This plan entails more 

 labour in the shape of very frequent 

 waterings, varied with liquid manure, 

 and the progress at the outset is 

 rather slow, but in the end the stems 

 become strong and woody, and it 

 rarely happens that they fail. 



"SoiL. It may be a difficult 

 matter for some to completely change 

 their practice, even if they are dis- 

 posed to do so, but there is nothing 

 to prevent a modification, especially 

 with regard to the disposition of the 

 soil. Many seem to think that the 

 poorest and heaviest loam procurable 

 is the correct compost for Melons, 

 this being placed in a rounded ridge 

 on the top of the hot-bed and heavily 

 beaten down in that position. In 

 this case the loam has but little to 

 do with an ultimate success, but may 

 be partly blamed for a failure. It 

 cannot be kept properly moistened, 

 and the consequence is the roots 

 quickly leave it and find their way 



