ILLUSTRATED IN THE CULTURE OF THE MELON. 191 



its thickness, and the exposure of its upper surface to light in proper 

 temperature. As the growth of the plant proceeds, the number and 

 width of the mature leaves increase rapidly in proportion to the number 

 of young leaves to be formed ; and the creation consequently exceeds the 

 expenditure of true sap. This therefore accumulates during a succession 

 of weeks, or months, or years, according to the natural habits and 

 duration of the plant, varying considerably according to the soil and 

 climate in which each individual grows ; and the sap thus generated is 

 deposited in the bulb of the tulip, in the tuber of the potato, in the 

 fibrous roots of grasses, and in the alburnum of trees, during winter, 

 and is dispersed through their foliage and bark during the spring and 

 summer *. 



As soon as the plant has attained its age of puberty, a portion of its 

 sap is expended in the production of blossoms and fruit. These originate 

 from and are fed by central vessels, apparently similar to those of the 

 succulent annual shoot and leaf-stalk, and which probably convey a 

 similar fluid ; for a bunch of grapes grew and ripened when grafted upon 

 a leaf-stalk ; and a succulent young shoot of the vine, under the same 

 circumstances, acquired a growth of many feetf. 



The fruit, or seed-vessel, appears to be generated wholly by the pre- 

 pared sap of the plant, and its chief office to be that of adapting the 

 fluids, which ascend into it, to afford proper nutriment to the seed it 

 contains^. 



I proceed to offer some observations upon the proper culture of the 

 melon. 



There is not, I believe, any species of fruit at present cultivated in the 

 gardens of this country, which so rarely acquires the greatest degree of 

 perfection, which it is capable of acquiring in our climate, as the melon. 

 It is generally found so defective both in richness and flavour, that it ill 

 repays the expence and trouble of its culture ; and my own gardener, 

 though not defective in skill or attention, had generally so little success, 

 that I had given him orders not to plant melons again. Attending, 

 however, after my orders were given, more closely to his mode of culture, 

 and to that of other gardeners in my neighbourhood, I thought I saw 

 sufficient cause for the want of flavour in the fruit, in the want of efficient 

 foliage ; and appealing to experiment, I have had ample reason to think 

 my opinions well founded. 



The leaves of the melon, as of every other plant, naturally arrange 

 themselves so as to present, with the utmost advantage, their upper 



* See above, No. XII. f Above, Nos. III. and IV. Above, No. II. 



