[9 6 MY GARDEN. 



afterwards : then it is wholesome. Sometimes we are terribly 

 troubled with the melon aphis, which appears by thousands, and 

 which causes the roots to rot. In July we usually get a visitation 

 of one species of red spider, but a moist atmosphere at night gene- 

 rally kills it. During the month of July, but not before nor after, the 

 growth of melons is difficult at my garden on account of this pest. 



The varieties of melons are innumerable. Many prefer a green-fleshed 

 melon, such as the Golden Perfection or the Orion. I give a preference 

 myself to a netted melon with thin skin and pink 

 flesh (fig. 369), such as Williams' Paradise Gem. Tur- 

 ner's Gem is a nice melon, but it has a tendency 

 to crack, and then it becomes infected with fungus 

 and is unwholesome. The Beechwood and Bromham 

 Hall are also fine melons. There is a little melon 



FIG. 369. Scarlet Melon, 



called the Queen Anne's Pocket Melon. I generally 

 grow several varieties every year, and save the seed of any one which 

 proves particularly excellent. The white- fleshed melons are not agree- 

 able to me, or much less so than the green or pink fleshed ones. 

 The character of melons, probably from being seedlings, is constantly 

 changing ; the melon with a certain name to-day was not the same 

 some years back, and will not be the same some years hence ; so 

 that, in choosing varieties, horticulturists must be guided from time to 

 time by the kinds of seeds which are obtainable. In my tank melon- 

 pit, after the first crop was cut, a moderate amount of water was 

 given to the plants, which started them into fresh growth, and gave 

 a second crop of large fine melons. 



No melon has been produced out of doors at my garden, and I 

 have failed, even in a frame, in growing the water-melon of South 

 Europe. 



I strongly recommend growers of melons to use them before they get 

 fungus ; and in times of cholera, if they cannot be obtained in a 

 growing state from healthy plants, to cast them away. 



" Like melons, friends are to be found in plenty, 

 Of which not even one is good in twenty." 



