THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUKIST. 



141 



on it. You can see this whitehead all 

 the year round, and this particulav 

 mountain is called Old Baldy. We 

 are residing about thirty-eight miles 

 east of Los Angelos, which town we 

 visited last week. This is a pretty 

 -town, but very filthy ; they never clear 

 the hoi'se manure off the streets, con- 

 sequently the whole city smells worse 

 than a badly-kept horse-stable. 



With regard to climate, it has only 

 rained twice since we came, four months 

 ago ; 3'et the atmosphere is moist and 

 everything looks fresh. The peach 

 trees are in full bloom as are also 

 oranges and lemons ; and there is ripe 

 fruit too, lots of it, on the trees ; now 

 very beautiful to look at. 



There is one drawback to all this 

 iovely climate, they killed a large rat- 

 tlesnake a few days ago, and scorpions, 

 chameleons, and other reptiles are in 

 plenty. 



Ontario, Bernardo Co,, Cal., 

 Feb. 23, 1885. 



HOW TO GROW MELONS. 



Montreal has long been noted for its 

 excellent nutmeg melons ; the way to 

 grow them is in the following manaer : 



One of the principal points in grow- 

 intj good melons is the saving of the 

 seed of good specimens. We generally 

 choose the earliest to ripen, the best 

 flavored, the best shaped, and heaviest 

 melon for seed, and let them ripen 

 thoroughly before saving the seed. 

 The seed may be sowed in hotbeds 

 in April, taking care to choose a 

 wai'm, sunny time, for a couple of 

 cold, cloudy days would cause them 

 to damp off. The hotbed may be 

 made with fifteen inches deep of hot 

 manure one foot broader than the frame, 

 banking it all round the height of the 

 frame with hot manure, and putting 

 five or tix inches of earlh in the frame 

 before putting on the glass, leaving it 

 in this state for about three days till 



the first great heat is ovei-, raking the 

 earth over once to kill the weeds that are 

 started. The seed msry be sowed in five 

 inch pots buried in the earth close to- 

 gather, as many as the frame will 

 contain {where pots are not available 

 sods turned upside down in the beds 

 will do as well), putting five seeds in 

 each pot buried one inch deep. At the 

 end of three or four days they may be 

 seen coming through the ground ; this 

 is the time they require the closest 

 attention, for if they get too much heat 

 they will grow too fast and top[)]e over, 

 or if they get a chill they turn blue in 

 the leaf and wilt away. The hotbed 

 should be kept at about eighty degrees 

 heat. Melons can stand it over a 

 hundred without injuring the plant, but 

 it makes them grow too fast and tender. 

 About the beginning of May trenches 

 may be dug 14 inches deep by 2 feet 

 wide and as long as you have hotbed 

 frames to occupy the land, filling them 

 with hot manure, being careful not to 

 put in any diy straw manure, then 

 covering it v/ith the earth that has been 

 taken out of the trenches to the depth 

 of eight or ten inches, then put on the 

 frame and glass, leaving it in this con- 

 dition for twenty four hours foi- the 

 earth to get warmed, raking tlie earth 

 thoroughly before transplai^ting the 

 melon plants, turning them out of 

 the pots, putting one pot containing 

 four stout plants in the centre of each 

 sash. When they make a growth of 

 three or four leaves nip off the top, so 

 that they will send out side shoots for 

 fniit. We need to be careful to give 

 them air every sunny daj% and closing 

 the sashes at night. About the begin- 

 ning of July when the vines have filled 

 the frames and melons are formed the 

 size of one's fist, then it is time t-o 

 i-emove the frames and glass beginning 

 gradually to harden the plants. To- 

 wards the ripening season it is a good 

 plan to put shingles or small pieces of 



