576 Cultivation of the Melon. 



back and the other to the front of the frame. My practice 

 is, never to stop them until they have extended as far as 

 their confinement will permit ; and the laterals from the two 

 vines, as they advance in growth, are trained to the right and 

 left over the bed with neat pegs; and every fruit-blossom, as 

 it expands, is carefully impregnated, and placed upon a tile 

 under the shade of a neighbouring leaf. In a day or two, or 

 as soon as I think the fruit wall set, I stop the vine at the 

 first or second joint beyond it. In this way I proceed, set- 

 ting all the fruit I can, until the surface of the bed is covered 

 with foliage, which is never deranged more than can be 

 avoided. While the fruit is setting I give air very freely, 

 sometimes I draw the lights quite off for a few hours on 

 sunny days ; and I also (by applying or withholding heat and 

 water) endeavour to keep them in a state betwixt luxuriance 

 and debility, for in either extreme they will not set well. 

 Having advanced thus far, I commence swelling them off. 

 I begin this with pinching off all the ends of the lateral 

 shoots that have not already been stopped, to assist the 

 young fruit. I now give no more air than will prevent the 

 sun from scorching their foliage. I look over them every 

 morning, and take off all the blossoms as they appear, 

 and stop every young shoot back to one joint above the 

 vine that produced it. I watch over them every after- 

 noon in fine weather ; and, before the sun has quite left the 

 frame, I syringe or water them all over, leaves, fruit, and 

 all, and shut down the glasses for the night. I always prefer 

 performing this while the departing rays of the sun have suf- 

 ficient strength to raise a sweet vaporous heat of about 90°, 

 which serves them to feast upon long after the sun has hid 

 his glories in the west. A few days of such treatment will 

 determine which fruit will take the lead in swelling off, out 

 of which I select two or three to each plant according to the 

 sort, and all the rest I cut away. As the fruit advances in 

 growth, it is necessary at intervals to turn them a little on 

 the tile, to prevent them from growing flat and discolouring 

 on one side, and also from rotting. When they have at- 

 tained as large a size as I think the sort will admit, I leave 

 off watering, and again give all the air I can by taking the 

 lights entirely off when the weather is favourable ; and, if the 

 season is not too far advanced, I leave them to ripen without 

 any other assistance. 



For an early crop of melons I grow the small early canta- 

 loup, one plant in a light when the frame is narrow, and two 

 if wide, with two or three fruit on each plant, which in 

 general weigh from 2 to 4 lbs. each. I succeed these with 



