318 ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE PERSIAN VAUIETIES OF THE MELON. 



do so in their native country ; for Sir Harford Jones Brydges informed 

 me, that he had heard the Persian gardeners express fear when a horse 

 was ridden at a rapid pace near the melon beds, that the vibration of the 

 soil would cause the melons to burst. It occurred to me in the last sum- 

 mer, that melons might possibly be made more safe from accidents of this 

 kind, if I raised their points higher than their stems, and thus caused 

 gravitation, which operates very powerfully upon the form and growth of 

 plants, to assist in carrying away any excess of fluid, which the fruit, 

 from any cause, might happen at any period to contain. I consequently 

 gave to every melon an elevation of thirty degrees, and not one of those 

 failed to ripen in a whole and perfect state ; but whether owing to any 

 action of gravitation or not, I am, of course, unprepared to decide : the 

 experiment, however, appears worth repeating. I suspect melons fre- 

 quently burst owing to the injurious effects of the pressure of their weight 

 upon their lower sides; for when I have suffered them to hang down 

 perpendicularly, they have always ripened well ; but the Ispahan melons, 

 under such circumstances, assumed forms nearly similar to those of 

 cucumbers swollen at their points, and such forms are to my eyes very 

 unpleasing. 



LXX. ON THE POTATOE. 



[Read before the HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, February }st, 1831.] 



IF the potatoe could only be employed, as it has chiefly been, to afford 

 vegetable food to mankind, its improvement would be an exceedingly 

 important object ; for, circumstanced as this country is, it must neces- 

 sarily constitute a large part of the food of the poorer classes ; and it is 

 consumed in large quantities at the tables of the affluent and luxurious. 

 But I am convinced, by the evidence of experiments which I have been 

 some years in making, that the potatoe plant, under proper management, is 

 capable of causing to be brought to market a much greater weight of vege- 

 table food, from any given extent of ground, than any other plant which 

 we possess, with equal profit to the farmer. The Swedish turnip may, 

 in certain seasons and when the soil is favourable, rival, and perhaps 

 excel it ; but a total failure of crops of that plant is an event of no 

 unfrequent occurrence, and partial failures occur in almost every season; 

 whilst by proper culture, and selection of varieties which vegetate and 



