West London Gardeners^ Association. 423 



top spit taken from a pasture where sheep had been kept ; it was repeatedly 

 turned over for twelve months before using, and when chopped small with- 

 out screening it is the best for retaining the moisture. He observed that a 

 gardener of his acquaintance, who travelled in Persia, where melons are found 

 in the greatest abundance, informed him that they were universally grown 

 upon marshy ground, the surface being matted over with long grass, on which 

 the vines of the melon trailed and fruited, exposed to the influence of a tro- 

 pical sun, with no rain at that season, but refreshed by heavy dews. 



Mr. Caie disapproved of the use of dung, and also of shading the plants. 

 His practice was to sow seeds in pans filled with vegetable mould, then placed 

 near the glass until they were fit to plant out on the hillocks, which were 

 composed of the top spit of good maiden loam left very rough, with the grassy 

 side turned down on the tops of the hillocks. He approved of growing the 

 melon hardy, and considered that old seed, well ripened, was superior to fresh. 



Mr. W. Keane differed from the opinions of some gardeners who believed 

 that fresh seed would produce luxuriant runners and male blossoms. He 

 never could notice that fresh seed, well ripened, was less productive j and he 

 was sure that his observations would be confirmed by the experience of many 

 gardeners. 



Mr, Fish objected to the system of allowing the roots to extend to the 

 dung. The depth of soil he would recommend to be 1 ft. deep of the top 

 spit of good pasture land, to be earthed up when planted out, by which they 

 were much invigorated. He could never observe any difference in the pro- 

 duce of old or new seed. He would not water the leaves of melons unless 

 to destroy insects ; he generally sowed his seeds about the 20th of January, 

 in pans, as recommended by Mr. Caie, and has cut good fruit in the latter part 

 of May. He has produced three crops from the same plants, and always 

 stopped them at the second joint until they showed fruit. He approved of using 

 lime, which is destructive to insects ; the temperature, from the germination of 

 the seed to the time of fruiting, to be from 70° to 90°. He believed that dung 

 applied as linings in pits, and covered up, did not ferment so well as the lin- 

 ings more exposed in the dung beds ; that many gardeners injured their plants 

 by too much bottom heat ; and agreed with Mr. Caie in the advantage of grow- 

 ing them hardy ; the soil, if considered necessary, to be enriched by deer or 

 pigeon dung water. He did not approve of brushwood, as the weight of the 

 soil was likely to sink it irregularly, by which the roots would be lacerated. 



Mr. Shearer did not doubt but by sowing seed in January fruit could be 

 produced in May. He preferred the depth of soil to be 18 in., and approved 

 of pits for early forcing. 



Mr. Caie entered into a lucid explanation of the harmony that exists between 

 animal and vegetable life, to prove that the disease of the plant gives rise to 

 animal life ; and that the different colours of hybrid flowei's are caused by the 

 quantity and quality of the gases in the atmosphere at the time of impregna- 

 tion, which at that critical moment gives a fixedness of colour, which afterwards 

 constitutes the distinguishing quahty of the plant. He considered it would be 

 necessary to understand the proper proportion of gases, when desirous to 

 perform the impregnation for the object of producing a particular colour. 



Mr. W. Keane approved of the observations just made by Mr. Caie; but if 

 not impossible, he thought that it was very improbable, that the gases, being of 

 such a volatile nature, could ever be so well known by a gardener as to induce 

 him to calculate with certainty on the colours to be produced by impregnation. 

 He believed that all the varieties of colours are effected by the chemistry of 

 nature ; that the change depends upon a peculiar principle called chromule ; 

 and that the changes of colours are influenced by the various oxygenation of 

 the chromule. He recommended the Persian melons as being delicious in 

 flavour, considered the netted and rock cantaloups as the best for the general, 

 and the Romana as a good sort for early crops. He believed that heat from 

 the linings was best communicated by the faggots, and in his experience he 

 never saw the ill effects observed by Mr. Fish. He approved of the use of 

 lime in the proportion recommended- by Mr. T. Keane, and also agreed in the 



