4)66 Effects of Water on the Growth of Melons. 



to them, by which much injury is done ; the cohesive soil getting 

 so dry, as to crack and injure the plants by breaking many of 

 their principal roots. The surrounding air being dry also, en- 

 courages the red spider ; and, before the fruit is ripe, there is 

 often nothing but leafless shoots. What I have just stated may 

 be considered the greatest cause w^hy melons are often badly 

 ripened ; and, this being the case, the question is, How comes 

 such a plan to be in common practice? Three reasons may be 

 assigned: 1st, The damp affects the plants; 2d, Moisture 

 tends to burst the fruit before ripe ; 3d, Water injures the 

 flavour of the fruit. 



With regard to the first, it is a mistaken notion that melon 

 plants do not require plenty of water ; indeed, so much so, that 

 it is a question with me, if they would not grow in wet ditches 

 in warm countries ; and, if so, it may be asked, How come they 

 to be affected by damp in hotbeds ? It ought to be borne in 

 mind, that there is a great difference betwixt plants growing in 

 the open air and those confined under glass, where often the 

 noxious vapours cannot escape. The green-flesh varieties of 

 melons are considered most apt to be affected by damp; and 

 the reason is, they are more hairy than other kinds, and of course 

 retain more wet. Yet, although this be the case, they, like the 

 others, require plenty of water; and there need be no fear of 

 any bad effects from it, provided plenty of air is admitted, to let 

 the exhaling vapours escape from the plants. In dull weather 

 more attention must be paid to this, and less water given. 



These remarks also apply to the notion why melons often 

 crack before they ripen, being the second reason given for with- 

 holding water from them. The belief that melons burst from 

 too great supplies from the roots is evidently erroneous, because 

 this result in general happens in damp weather; and, although 

 the fruit be almost severed from the plants to check the supplies 

 from the roots, as long as the air holds damp, such severance in 

 no way prevents the cracks from extending. The bursting of all 

 kinds of fruit invariably proceeds from external moisture ; let 

 the supplies from the roots be ever so great, the extension of the 

 fruit is proportionate. 



In making these remarks I am well aware that much water 

 supplied either way is injurious to fruit when ripening, and this 

 leads to the third cause stated why it is withdrawn from melons 

 at that time. But there is a medium in all things ; the plants 

 ought to have sufficient supplies of water to encourage their 

 growth, and also to check that pest, the red spider. It is not 

 unusual to see melon beds, at the time alluded to, like an ash- 

 heap, and the fruit ripening, if it may be so called, on shoots 

 leafless from the ravages of the insect just mentioned. Melons 

 treated in this manner, however good the kinds may be, will 



