CHAPTER III. 



MELONS 



THERE are several reasons why the melon is not so universally 

 grown for market as the cucumber, but the principal one is 

 that the demand for it is comparatively limited. Those who 

 have cultivated the taste for English-grown melons are mostly 

 those who have been in a position either to grow their own 

 or have them grown for them, and those who have not so 

 cultivated the taste are those who, in the main, cannot appreciate 

 their vast superiority over the plebeian, low-priced water melons 

 imported so freely from Spain. The cost of production places 

 them beyond the reach of the great body of the public, but 

 even so, the numbers sent to Covent Garden and other large 

 markets during the season are very large and represent a very 

 considerable value. 



Our earliest melons come from Guernsey, where probably a 

 half dozen or so growers specialise in them. The very early 

 crops are produced by plants extremely short-lived and doing 

 their work very quickly. Their cultivation is in single pots 

 in great heat, the plants being permitted to grow one or two 

 fruits at the most. It is one of the most intensively cultivated 

 crops we know of, profitable, of course, but by no means offering 

 that El Dorado that might be imagined. A slight mishap, a 

 touch of disease, an eelworm, will quickly obliterate the only 

 chance a plant has at a time when it is impossible to replace, 

 for it is essential to the successful working of this method that 

 the whole of the crop shall ripen together, or as nearly so as is 

 possible. 



The question as to whether the plants should be limited to 

 one fruit each or to be encouraged to carry two is still a moot 

 point. The solitary fruit comes larger, finer, and quicker, 

 and can be looked upon as " specials." Where the pair of 

 fruits per plant are allowed, there is a distinct falling off in size 

 and quality, and they take slightly longer to mature. The 

 question is, which pays the better, having due regard to the time 

 they occupy the house ? We have heard the matter argued by 

 those who favour either method, but have never yet been able 



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