Culture of Persian Melons. 551 



Our pit was 9ft. wide; its slope at an angle of 21°; with a 

 pit at the back, for linings, if wanted. In the latter part cf 

 October, we filled the pit with new tan, to the depth of 5 ft. ; 

 and with this we forced strawberries till toward the end of 

 April, when we forked up the tan and trod it well, adding no 

 new tan, nor using any lining. We then put in a ridge of soil 

 along the middle of the pit. The ridge was about 3 ft. wide at 

 the base, and, when well trodden and beaten, about 1 ft. 3 in. 

 deep in the centre. The soil was composed of three parts of 

 turfy loam, roughly chopped, and one of rotten dung. The 

 plants having been prepared in the usual manner (one in a 

 60-sized pot) were, after they had shown the rough leaf, topped 

 and turned out into the ridge in one straight line along the 

 centre, 1 ft. apart. For a few days we shaded the plants from 

 the more powerful and scorching rays of the sun ; and we 

 covered the pit with double mats at night till the second week 

 in June. As soon as the plants had reached their fourth joint, 

 they were again topped ; after which they threw out laterals, 

 and showed fruit. As soon as the roots had penetrated through 

 the surface of the ridge, we soiled the pit all over, in the same 

 manner and to the same depth as we had made the ridge. 

 When the fruits had become impregnated (part of them were 

 impregnated by artificial means, for the sake of greater cer- 

 tainty, and part by natural), and had begun to swell, each cf 

 them was laid on a piece of glass, and the shoot stopped at one 

 joint beyond the fruit : the eye, also, at the fruit-joint was taken 

 out as soon as it had been protruded : and all other laterals, 

 and male blossoms, were pinched off as they appeared. In the 

 evening of every warm day we sprinkled the pit, and also the 

 plants, from the time at which the latter were planted out, until 

 they had begun to show fruit. We took particular care not to 

 wet the main stem of the plant, nor the soil immediately around 

 it. We did not sprinkle at all while the fruits were being set, 

 nor until they had been enlarged to the size of a goose's egg. 

 After this period we resumed the sprinkling, and continued it 

 until the fruits had become nearly full swelled, when all moisture 

 was finally withdrawn, save only that, after intense sunshine, 

 when the leaves would appear enfeebled, we bestowed a little 

 water at the extremities of their roots. We admitted air during 

 the period of rearing the plants and that of the swelling of the 

 iruits, at 75° of internal temperature, allowing the thermometer 

 to rise gradually to 90°, and in the hottest sunshine to 95°. 

 While the plants were in bloom, we kept the pit rather hotter 

 and closer than at other times. When the fruit had become 

 well swelled, we admitted plenty of air, when the internal tem- 

 perature was not under 80°. 



In 1833, I had the following sorts promiscuously mingling 



