208 MUSKMELON. 



pounding with a brick. An occasional light application 

 of potash and phosphoric acid worked into the soil will 

 be found to be useful. Very much of the ultimate be- 

 havior of the plants will depend upon the proper selec- 

 tion and mixing of the soil, and one who has had no 

 experience in forcing-house work will rarely obtain the 

 best results for the first year or two in preparing the 

 earth. The mechanical condition of this soil is really 

 more important than its fertility, for plant food may be 

 added from time to time, but the soil itself cannot be 

 renewed whilst the crop is growing ; and, moreover, 

 the plant food is of little avail unless the soil is well 

 drained and aerated, not too loose nor too hard. It is 

 impossible to describe this ideal soil in such manner 

 that the beginner can know it. Like many other sub- 

 jects of handicraft, it can be known only by experience. 

 It may help the novice, if I say th.it soil which will 

 grow good melons in the field may not be equally good 

 in the house. Under glass, with the fierce heats in full 

 sunshine and the strong bottom heat, heavy watering, 

 as compared with normal rainfall, is essential, whilst 

 the rapid drainage and the evaporation from both the 

 top and the bottom of the bed, impose conditions which 

 are much unlike those of the field. But the ideal con- 

 dition of the soil to be maintained in the house may be 

 likened to the warm, mellow, rich and moist seed-bed 

 in which every farmer likes to sow his garden seeds in 

 spring. There is no sub-soil indoors to catch the drain- 

 age, and a mellow field soil is often so loose and po- 

 rous that the water runs through the benches and carries 

 away the plant food. The house soil must, therefore, 

 be retentive, but then there is danger that it will be- 

 come puddled or sodden, or arrive in that condition 

 which a gardener knows as a "sour" soil. This condi- 

 tion may be avoided by the use of the stable manure to 

 add fiber to the soil, by the very frequent stirring of the 

 immediate surface with a hand weeder, and particularly 



