242 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kruit 

 Garden. 

 v^ 

 Melon. 



bitacetf. The genus cucumis affords the rich melon for 

 the dessert ; the cucumber, well known for its cooling 

 qualities; and the coloquintida of the apothecaries. 

 The water-melon, the squash and (he pumkin, belong 

 to the same natural family, but to a different genus, Cu- 

 cnrbita, distinguished chiefly by the swelling rim of the 

 seed. The melon has been cultivated in England since 

 before 1 570 ; but the precise period of its introduction 

 is uncertain. 



252. Many are the varieties of this fruit, but a few 

 only are worth cultivating: particularly different sorts 

 of Cantaloupe, the Romana, Polignac, oblong ribbed, 

 rock, Portugal, and Salonica. The largest kinds are 

 in general of inferior quality, being valuable chiefly to 

 the market gardener, who finds his advantage in having 

 a large and shewy fruit rather than one whose only 

 merit consists in being high-flavoured. 



The Cantaloupes are well known, and generally cul- 

 tivated. In most of them the outer coat is rough and 

 warty. The fruit is of middling size, rather round 

 than long. There are several subvarieties : one has a 

 greenish pulp ; another and more esteemed sort has the 

 pulp of an orange colour : there is likewise a scarlet, 

 and a white cantaleupe ; besides the black rock canta- 

 leupe, and the netted cantaleupe, the last possessing 

 excellent qualities. The cantaleupe has received its 

 name from a seat of the Pope near Rome, where the 

 fruit was either originally produced, or is supposed to 

 have been so. 



The Romana is an early melon, small in size, but of 

 fine flavour ; and the plants are very plentiful bearers. 

 There are two or three subvarieties, of which the large 

 netted Romana is the best ; it is of an oval shape, high- 

 flavoured, and at the same time very solid and ponderous. 



The Polignac is a rich-flavoured fruit, pretty gene- 

 rally cultivated. 



The oblong ribbed, sometimes called the musky me- 

 lon, is of agreeable flavour, and the plants produce 

 abundantly. 



Rock melons, or carbuncled melons, are of different 

 (sorts ; with green pulp, scarlet pulp, black and silver 

 rock. 



The small Portugal melon is an early variety, not 

 destitute of flavour, and it is produced very plentifully. 



The Salinica melon was little known in this country 

 till recommended by Mr Knight. Its form is nearly 

 spherical, and without any depressions on its surface ; 

 its colour approaches that of gold, and its pulp is pure 

 white. It is allowed to remain upon the plant till it be 

 completely matured, for it improves in flavour and 

 richness till it become quite soft, and even shew symp- 

 toms of incipient decay. The consistence of its pulp 

 is nearly that of a water melon, and it is very sweet. A 

 full grown specimen of the fruit generally weighs 

 about 71b. 



253. In the cultivation of the melon it is a matter of 

 much importance to procure proper seed. Some gar- 

 deners are so scrupulous on this point, that they will 

 not sow the seeds unless they have seen and tasted the 

 fruit from which they were taken. It is proper at least 

 not to trust to seeds which have not been collected 

 by judicious persons. Some make it a rule to pre- 

 serve always the seeds of those individual specimens 

 which are first ripe, and even to take them from the 

 ripest side of the fruit. A criterion of the goodness 

 and probable fertility is generally sought by throwing 

 them into a vessel containing water ; such as sink are 

 considered as good and likely to prove fertile ; those 

 that float as effete. It is remarked of seeds brought 



from the continent, that they must have more bottom 

 heat, and the joung plants less water, than are neces- 

 sary for seeds ripened in this country, or young plants 

 sprung from these. 



The seeds are seldom sown till they have been two 

 or three years kept; from this age till they be five 

 years old, they succeed very well. The plants pro- 

 duced from such seeds are not so luxuriant, and are 

 therefore more tractable and more prolific. The cause 

 is supposed to be, that the albumen of the seed is 

 deteriorated by the keeping, and the plants thus star- 

 ved, in a certain degree, at their first germination ; 

 the fruitfulness of plants in general being promoted by 

 checking their luxuriance. When gardeners intend to 

 sow seeds which have been kept only for one year, they 

 are in the practice of carrying them for some months in 

 the pockets of their small clothes ; the warmth from the 

 body being found to promote the desirable maturation 

 or siccity. If, on the other hand, the seeds have been 

 kept for many years, steeping them for some days in 

 weak oxymuriatic acid (chlorine) might probably tend 

 to excite germination. 



251. The seeds are sown at two or three different 

 periods of the season ; the first sowing taking place 

 early in February, the next about the middle of March, 

 and another later. They are sown in broad shallow 

 pans or in common flower-pots sunk to the brim 

 in a small hot-bed, called the seed-bed, covered with 

 a one-light frame. Here the temperature is kept as 

 near as possible to 65; a little air is given in the dav 

 time, but during night the frame is closed, and covered 

 with single or double mats according to the state of the 

 weather. When the plants are about an inch and a half 

 high, they are pricked into nursing pots, three in each, 

 and placed generally in an intermediate frame of two 

 lights, till they shew one or two of their rough leaves, 

 when they are ready for final transplanting. 



255. The melon ground, or quarter in which the me. 

 Ion beds are formed, should have a dry bottom, a free 

 exposure to the south, and be sheltered from the north 

 and east. It is desirable also to have it inclosed by a 

 hedge of yew, beech, holly, or privet ; and it is an ad- 

 vantage to keep it under lock and key, no kind of 

 plants being so apt to be disordered or injured by the 

 curiosity of ignorant intruders. In many places, the 

 melon ground is formed in the slip, or on the exterior 

 of the garden ; and where this is the case, there is ge- 

 nerally a cart access, which, considering the quantity 

 of stable-dung required, proves very convenient. 



256. The soil or compost for melons is prepared at 

 least a year before it be used, and, like other composts, 

 it is frequently turned over and thoroughly mixed. 

 Two thirds of fresh hazel-coloured loam, from the sur- 

 face of an old pasture, and one third of rotten cow- 

 dung, or of the remains of old hot-beds, form an excel, 

 lent soil. This compost is generally passed through a 

 screen ; but there is no need for its being made very fine. 



257. The site of the hot-beds is scooped out to the 

 depth of a foot, that the surface and lights may be kept 

 low. The bed is generally made between three and 

 four feet high, and the back four inches higher than the 

 front. Stable dung and litter are the usual ingredi- 

 ents of these as of other hot-beds ; but some use tan- 

 ner's bark, in which case it is necessary to have a brick 

 pit, or a strong wooden frame erected. The earth is 

 not put on till the temperature become steady and 

 moderate, which: it generally does in the space of a 

 week. The beds are covered with large frames, each 

 having three sashes or lights. These are generally 



Melon. 



