266 HOTBEDS FOR RAISING MELONS, 



double chance of success ; but the sowing in 

 pots should in no case be omitted, in case the 

 heat of the bed should prove too violent ; and if 

 that should happen, the pots are easily drawn up 

 farther from the dung, or if necessary, quite out 

 of the earth. 



When the forcing of cucumbers has com- 

 menced, there will be no necessity for preparing 

 a hotbed for raising the melon plants, as the 

 same mean temperature is suitable to both ; and 

 the seed may be sown either in the earth of the 

 cucumber bed, or in pots plunged therein at the 

 back part of the frame. In either case, when the 

 plants have come up three or four days, and 

 while in the lobes or seed leaf, transplant (or 

 what is more generally termed prick) them into 

 small pots, two plants in each, and then plunge 

 the pots in the earth of the hotbed ; or some 

 may be pricked into the earth of the bed, but 

 they are much better in pots, as they are ready 

 for turning out with the whole ball into the 

 frames, where they are intended for fruiting. But 

 while in the seedbed be careful to cover the 

 glasses with mats every night, admitting air 



