358 JacquirHs Monographie complete du Melon. 



of artificial heat made mention of, no notice occurring 

 throughout of pits heated either by fermentable matter, hot 

 air, water, or steam. 



In sowing in December, for early spring crops, he recom- 

 •aiends that the use of pots be dispensed with, and the seeds 

 placed at two or three inches' distance in the soil of a bed 

 made for the purpose, to be afterwards transplanted when 

 the second leaf has appeared, into pots, one plant in each, a 

 fresh bed having been previously prepared to receive them. 

 The plant he advises to be buried up to the cotyledons, a 

 practice which is, or, if not, should be, generally adopted here ; 

 they are turned out of these pots without disturbing the 

 roots, to be transplanted in their final destination. This 

 mode of procedure is at least worthy of a trial : M. Jacquin 

 attributes to it the merit of saving trouble, less liability to be 

 affected by cold, and the avoidance of the matting and 

 entangling of the roots : on the other hand, it may be ques- 

 tioned whether these advantages are not counterbalanced by 

 the necessity for a more precise regulation of the heat of the 

 bed, which, he says, should not exceed 20° to 25° (equal to 

 about 78° to 88° of Fahrenheit) ; whereas, in pots, such care is 

 needless, as they may be more or less immersed, according to 

 the temperatui'e of the soil. Pruning, setting the fruit, sub- 

 sequent care, watering, preserving the seeds, with the best 

 age to sow them considered, cuttings, &c., complete the 2d 

 division, appertaining to early crops under frames. 



The course of pruning which our author most approves of 

 is this : — When the plant has four leaves, exclusive of the 

 cotyledons, it is cut down to two : the branches proceeding 

 from their axils, having just unfolded the third leaf, are again 

 cut down to two; and, if these again fail to show fruit blos- 

 soms, the same is repeated, when they will invariably do so. 

 The legitimate object of pruning, where early fruit is desired, 

 consists in as speedily as possible establishing a certain 

 degree of ramification sufficiently removed from the main 

 stem to insure the emission of fruit blossoms, which, in the 

 melon, usually occurs on the second from the parent stem, 

 but always on the third, and that mode is preferable by which 

 this may be effected with the least check to the plant. Tried 

 by this test, M. Jacquin would appear to have adopted the 

 happy medium ; and his practice may be followed with safety. 

 Of various modes that I have made trial of, I have found one 

 nearly approaching this to be the most successful, though 

 reserving a final judgment till I have concluded my expe- 

 riments. 1 differ from him in his preference of seed three or 

 more years old : I prefer it new^, because the very vigour, 



