186 



MELON. 



culture a place is this manual. The breadth of 

 glass seemed not very formidable, and the requisite 

 heat is not that of actual combustion. Nay, there 

 arises from this very thing an argument of beauti- 

 ful economy. A dunghill must ferment somewhere, 

 and its heat is dissipated. Instead of giving this 

 warmth to the unthankful winds, why not apply it 

 to the production of the rich odour and nectarine 

 juice of the melon? Full of this argument, the 

 next thing was to get the needful science ; and pro- 

 ceeding in this search the title of" Chap. I, Melon 

 Garden," proved not a little staggering. Then 

 came something about the convenience of a cart 

 road leading to the interior, namely, of the " melon 

 garden" another staggerer. But still a wheel- 

 barrow road might do; and " melon garden," after 

 all, might signify only a part of the garden sepa- 

 rated from the rest by a holly hedge. But next 

 came the various sets of hotbeds and hot ridges, 

 the one-light and two-light frames ; the thermo- 

 metrical trials ; the decay, the revival, and the pre- 

 servation of heat; the opening of the glass for air, 

 and the hazard of a shower: the awnings for the 

 sun and the mattings for the frost; the constant 

 waterings, with the cautions not to wet a leaf; the 

 drying of the seed by animal heat, that, is, by car- 

 rying it in the pocket, and keeping it till five years 

 old ; the cautious turning of the fruit, like a pa- 

 tient in bed, with this greater care, that whereas 

 the patient may at any time be turned either way, 

 the last turning of the melon must be remembered 



