240 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



paper-house very thriving. Gentle rain : the ground before 

 burnt to ashes. 



21 : 22. Prick'd-out about 650 savoys; & about 230 

 Bore-cole-plants. 



24. Buried the stones, & rubbish from y e Butcher's 

 in the Yard to make it sound. Dry, scorching weather. 



June 25. Watered melons well : burning season, & 

 no signs of rain. Fruit in plenty ; but none set. 



27. Earth'd the melon-bed still deeper on account of 

 the extream Heat ; & pull'd the Lights quite off for the 

 whole day, & covered the frames with mats. Plants draw 

 very long without any fruit setting. 



Cucumbers raised in the cold ground very forward, & 

 thriving. 



28. Planted several Basons in the field with Sunflowers. 



30. Sowed a plot of Endive, & shaded it with a mat. 



July 5. Pull'd up the two melon-plants in the two- 

 light-frame, which had never showed a fruit so far as to 

 blow ; & planted in their room two Selborn Cantaleupes 

 sown about the 21 of May, just shooting into runners. 

 Drought continues ; & the Garden suffers greatly. 



July 1 6. Planted-out, after waiting five or six weeks 

 for a shower, the Af : & French Marigolds, & double- 

 China-Asters, in the midst of an unusual drought : the 

 Earth quite dust spit-deep. 



17. Gathered first natural Cucumber from a seed put 

 into the cold Ground the 12 th of May. 



20. Great tempest of thunder & lightning, & vast 

 rains after 13 weeks drought. 



Frequent showers till the 15 of August ; then sixteen 

 days wet, & very bad Harvest weather. 



August 22. Found on my return from Sunbury six 

 brace of moderate-sized Cantaleupes ; & about the same 

 number of small ones, that will ripen, if the season be 

 favourable. No fruit would set till the rains came, & the 

 intense heats were abated : & what did set was all on the 

 third wood, the second casting its fruit, & drawing very 

 weak. 



