270 ON AN IMPROVED MODE OF CULTIVATING THE MELON. 



appears to prove that powers have been given to the mature leaf, which 

 have been denied to the roots and branches of plants, and to the cotyle- 

 dons of their seeds, unless the latter expand into and assume, as they in 

 many cases do, the form and office of leaves. In an early part of the 

 summer some leaves of mint, (Mentha piperita,) without any portion of 

 the substance of the stems upon which they had grown, were planted in 

 small pots, and subjected to artificial heat, under glass. They emitted 

 roots and lived more than twelve months, having assumed nearly the 

 character of the leaves of evergreen trees : and upon the mould being 

 turned out of the pots, it was found to be everywhere surrounded by just 

 such an interwoven mass of roots, as would have been emitted by perfect 

 plants of the same species. These roots presented the usual character of 

 those organs, and consisted of medulla, alburnum, bark, and epidermis ; 

 and as the leaf itself, during the growth of these, increased greatly in 

 weight, the evidence that it generated the true sap, which was expended 

 in their formation, appears perfectly conclusive. 



Supposing the leaves of the melon plant to possess (as I do not enter- 

 tain a shadow of doubt that they do) powers similar to those of the mint 

 above mentioned, and of other plants, and that all the foliage may be 

 made to contribute to feed a single fruit, it is not easy to conceive by 

 what means this can be done, without the circulation of a very large 

 portion of the true sap of the plant (even of that generated in its most 

 distant foliage) through such single fruit, be assumed. And it appears 

 difficult upon any other grounds to account for the extremely rapid 

 growth which, under such circumstances, takes place in a single fruit, 

 with the influence of the fruit upon the most distant parts of the plant, 

 and the dependence of the ultimate weight and perfection of the fruit 

 upon the extent of the foliage of the plant. In an experiment which I 

 made some years ago, a single melon, of the Rock Canteloup variety, 

 grew upon a plant which occupied more than thirty feet of the surface of 

 a hot-bed, but under green glass of ordinary quality ; where it acquired 

 the weight of thirteen and a half pounds, having during its growth given 

 the whole plant full employment, and apparently put the services of 

 every leaf in requisition, though some of them grew at nearly six feet 

 distance from it. 



The disadvantages of leaving too numerous a crop on any plant are 

 sufficiently well known,and every skilful gardener is able to calculate, 

 from the extent and vigour of his melon-plants, what number of fruits, of 

 any given variety, each plant is capable of supporting ; but when a 

 melon-plant has many fruits to support, it is often a partial parent, 



