Wesi London Gardeners' Association. 421 



-will assist its temperature in March, April, and May. The angle the pit would 

 form from these dimensions, would be about 67^ °, which would answer well 

 to carry off the different descriptions of showers that we frequently have, and 

 ought to guard against as much as possible, at this season, together with ob- 

 taining the most reflecting rays of the sun, which is one of the most necessary 

 acquisitions. 



The melon, from its seed to its proper perfection of fruit, requires due 

 care and attention ; as I am certain it often suffers through a want of the 

 proper temperature, free circulation of air, gentle waterings, and syring- 

 ings occasionally. Firstly, From the time the seeds are sown in pots in the 

 seed bed, until their removal thence to the pit. Secondly, From their 

 entrance into the pit to setting their fruit. Thirdly, From setting their fruit 

 to about a fortnight after. Fourthly, and lastly. From that time to its maturity. 

 These are the several stages in which the melon requires the different 

 agents heretofore mentioned, to be properly applied to it. It is to avoid sud- 

 den transitions of temperature at that early season of the year, that I would 

 recommend pits in preference to frames. Let us take notice of the lining 

 applied to a frame a few days after it is lined ; and if during some period of 

 that time it has been visited by some cold, frosty, snowy, or cloudy, weather, 

 then try it with your hand and feel how far these different changes will affect 

 it. I expect that you will see it more affected than what it can well bear. 

 Whereas at the same time, and with less dung, your pit lining is buried beneath 

 the influence of all these searching and trying visiters, doing its duty without 

 the necessity of removing it one fourth as often as you should a frame lining. 



I prepare my seed-bed about the beginning or middle of February. If I have 

 seed two years old, I prefer it, being riper and less liable to failures ; but I find 

 it best to put the seeds into half a pint of milk for about twenty-four hours 

 before sowing, as this process, I think, softens them, and helps to excite the 

 germination of the seeds ; putting three in each 48- sized pot, as the less checks 

 of any sort the melon meets with the better. 



• As soon as the plants are in leaf about the size of a half-crown piece, I 

 always remove them to the pit. I prepare the pots with good drainage, and 

 fill them with the prepared compost, which is composed of the top spit of a 

 pasture field, with one sixth of vegetable soil, mixed together for 12 or 18 

 months, and, previously to its being used, turned over once or twice, and at 

 each turning having a small quantity of quicklime mixed through it, in the 

 proportion of half a bushel to one horse load, which is a preventive against all 

 kinds of canker, worms, or any thing hurtful to the plant. I fill the pots with 

 it, refining it to suit the seed, and put the seed about 1 in. deep in the soil. 

 These pots are kept in the seed-bed three or four days before sowing, to 

 have them of the same temperature as the bed, which I would always keep 

 between 65° and 70° : the water I use is of the same temperature, being kept 

 in bottles in the pit. 



The covering I would recommend at this and every other stage of their 

 growth, to be thatched frames to fit each light, as I have experienced them to 

 be excellent coverings for these or any other plants in pits. They are best to 

 withstand the most severe attacks of any weather ; they are in fact cleaner, 

 neater, cheaper, and more easily used, than any other covering I am aware of. 



During the time the plants are in the seed bed, I prepare my pit by putting 

 at the bottom a quantity of coarse brushwood, laying it about 3 ft. in height 

 at the back, 2 ft. at the front, with 3 or 4 inches of dung on it. On this I 

 lay turf all over, about 6 or 7 inches thick, as a preventive against rank 

 steam. On the top of this, and around the edges of the sides, about 3 or 4 

 inches in breadth, I spread about l^in. of fine sand, that, after the escape of 

 rank or foul steam through the turf and these crevices, it should come in con- 

 tact with the sand, which, being of a close quality, purifies it so as to render it 

 quite congenial to the plants. I then give tlie pit a coat of very thick liquid, 

 made of quicklime, of the consistence of cream ; as it will, when syringed, 

 promote vegetation, and cause a vapour to arise destructive to all insects that 

 attack the melon. 



