MEL 



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MEL 



chief object should be, to expose as much 

 healthy foliage as possible, and that 

 connected with bearing portions, to the 

 light, not suffering late- formed leaves 

 to over-shadow the older healthy leaves. 

 Still, the sides of the frame must be 

 occasionally watered; and when the 

 fruit is as large as a hen's egg, a liberal 

 watering of liquid -manure may be 

 given, avoiding, however, wetting the 

 collars of the plants at all times. Ven- 

 tilation must be daily had, but much 

 caution is necessary ; good linings 

 must be maintained, in order to sup- 

 port the necessary temperature with 

 ventilation. By these means, fine, ripe 

 Cantaloups or Eeechwoods may be cut 

 by the middle of May. We may add 

 that the root-watering may require to 

 be repeated, but water must be entirely 

 withheld a week or two before they 

 commence ripening, and an extra 

 amount of ventilation used during the 

 ripening period. 



The main features of their culture 

 in houses or pits, or on trellises, are 

 precisely the same, except that having 

 a greater depth of soil, and more room 

 to ramble, a much greater length of 

 main shoot may be allowed before 

 stopping. In whatever situation, about 

 80 of bottom-heat, and an average of 

 75 atmospheric, will be found to suit 

 them best, except that in proportion as 

 the sun-light increases they will readily 

 bear an increase of from 5 to 10, 

 both to the roots and branches. 



Bed. Although a common hotbed is 

 generally used for this plant, yet a pit is 

 more economical of heat, and by enabling 

 a more regular temperature to be sus- 

 tained, renders the fruit in greater per- 

 fection. The pit is a rectangular frame 

 or bin, built of nine-inch brickwork, 

 and enclosed by a glass case of the 

 necessary dimensions. Mr. Smith, 

 gardener to A. Keith, Esq., of Eavel- 

 stone, N. B., has suggested a mode of 

 building a pit which renders the re- 

 newal of the heat in it easy ; and as 

 the committee appointed to examine it 

 report, is the means of considerable 

 saving compared with the common 

 mode of forming an open bed. But 

 the facility with which linings may be 

 applied is its best feature, 

 38 



The accompanying sketch will at 

 once show the form of the pit, and Mr. 

 Smith's mode of applying the linings. 

 A is the pit the side of which a a in- 

 stead of being a continuous piece of 

 brickwork are merely rows of pillars 



six feet apart; and the brickwork of 

 the frame, b 6, is supported by bars of 

 iron reaching from pillar to pillar. An 

 outer wall, c c, is constructed at two- 

 and-a-half feet distance from the pillars 

 on each side ; thus two bins are formed 

 in which the linings are inserted, as is 

 found necessary, and are kept close 

 covered with thick boards ; d represents 

 the lights, which thus are formed with- 

 out any wooden frames. For other 

 modes of construction, see Hotbed, 

 Pits, &c. If a common hotbed is em- 

 ployed, fifteen barrow loads of dung 

 is the usual allowance to each light, 

 which make it about six inches higher 

 than is allowed for the cucumber bed 

 of largest dimensions. 



If a melon-house be employed, the 

 following is the form and mode adopted 

 by Mr. Fleming. 



" The house is twenty-eight feet long, 

 and fifteen wide, and is heated by means 

 of a saddle boiler, with four-inch pipes 

 passing round the outside of the pit, 

 which pipes are fitted with cast-iron 

 troughs for holding water to regulate 

 the moisture of the atmosphere. Be- 

 neath the pit is an arched chamber, 

 a, along the front of which runs the 

 flue, t, imparting a slight degree of 

 heat to the soil above, and also serving 

 to heat a series of arches, c, which run 

 along beneath the path, and are eu- 

 teredt from a bouse in front, d, and 

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