January 21, 13G5. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AJTD CQTTAaE GARDENER. 



67 



beds of the sh'eams which trickle from the heights. Gulls, 

 with their soft white plumage, wheel in gentle flights above 

 your head. The air is soft and balmy as in Italy; and if 

 you will you may pass hour after hour in the delicious calm 

 of perfect repose — -repose unbroken even by a dream. But 

 if you wiU, as I did, you may leave your companions and 

 stroll on and on, peering into sea caves and old shafts of 

 mines, till you light upon — not a gull or bii-d of any sort — 

 but a lad, whose bright eyes shine with keen intelligence 

 out of a copper-coloured face, and whose hands, face, and 

 clothes are all of tlie same copper hue. A quick glance and 

 a nod, and we are sworn friends. By-and-by we find a cave 

 literally covered with A. marinum, hanging in rich clusters 

 from the roof and sides, wherever the waves do not reach — 

 not common marinum, but the true Cornish variety, with 

 fronds measuring three-quarters of a yard in length, and 

 the pinuie very narrow and very far apart. My young friend 

 and I soon secured a basketful of beautiful specimens, con- 

 versing all the while on the people and things in the mining 

 district. Wages were pretty good ; but there was the old 

 grievance of "tommy" shops and delayed payment, neces- 

 sitating the running up of scores at the small shops, and 

 the payment of large prices for inferior goods. In religion 

 the miners were for the greater part Methodists, Bible 

 Christians, &c., with a slight reaction in favour of instan- 

 taneous conversion, as produced by Mr. Aitken and his fol- 

 lowers. I asked, " Was Mr. Aitken loved ?" "Yes, indeed 

 he was. There was no hour by day or night he was not 

 ready to be at the service of the poor. He was good, and 

 the Methodist parsons were good." And so my friend pa- 

 tronised first one and then the other, and doubtless thought 

 himself very good too. Thus conversing we came back to 

 my companions, whom I left looking too sentimental for 

 aught but lotus-eating, but whom I found devouring cake 

 and sandwiches with the rapidity and destructiveness of 

 locusts. The copper boy sat down on a rock and devoured 

 too, giving to the picture a richer tone of colouring than 

 even blue sky or wliite gulls could produce. 



I never found the true Cornish variety of marinum except- 

 ing at Cape Cornwall. In cultivation it loses much of its 

 individual character. It diminishes in length and in the 

 narrowness of the pinna;, but it stUl preserves a certain 

 peculiarity of outline sufficient to separate it from the com- 

 mon marinum. — Filix-fcemina. 



CTJLTn^ATIO^N" OP THE MELOIS'. 



(Continued fi'Oin page 46.) 



IN POTS. 

 This mode of culture is chiefly applicable where there are 

 no frames, pits, or houses, for growing Melons, though these 

 are produced with much greater certainty in such structures 

 than in those which I am about to treat of. A person 

 having a greenhouse may attempt growing a few Melons in 

 addition to flowers. After greenhouses or pits are cleared 

 of their occupants for the summer, there is often room which 

 the owner does not know how to employ usefully ; it may be 

 that there is a fancy for fruit ; there may be no Vines, or, if 

 any exist, they are perhaps planted far apart, so that any- 

 thing placed between tliem would obtain plenty of light. 

 This is the house for Melons. It would not suit Pigs ; they 

 would require to be in the house much earlier, and Peaches 

 are the same : besides, such fruits take up room in winter, 

 the Melons none, and they can be raised in the same bed as 

 the Cucumbers. Directions for raising plants will be found 

 in previous articles. Select a plant that has been potted 

 singly into a 4S-sized pot, stopped at the second rough leaf, 

 and transferred as it grew into a 24-pot. Two shoots appear- 

 ing from it the strongest is selected, cutting the other out, 

 and training that left ti a small stick, rubbing out the side 

 shoots as they show. Having plants of this description by 

 the first week in June, the first step is to prepare the house 

 for their reception by removing such plants as Pelargoniums, 

 Fuchsias, &e., that will shed their leaves if they have not a 

 cool airy situation, only retaining plants that will boar a 

 warm moist heat, as Cockscombs, and not a single climber 

 likely to shade the Melons. This done, shut up the house, 

 sprinkle the floors and walls, and shut the door. 



When the plants are ready to be shifted, which is when 

 they have filled the 24-sized pots with roots, drain a 13 or 

 15-inuh pot well, not putting in too many crocks, but a few, 

 and some of the roughest compost over them. Strong loam 

 is best, though light soil, also that so strong as to be clayey, 

 will do, only it must be used differently. If strong and 

 clayey pot the plant lightly, covering the stem no deeper 

 than the seed leaves, and press the soil lightly round the 

 ball ; if strong, but not clayey, squeeze the soil firmly round 

 the ball ; but if light, in addition to pressing the soil firmly, 

 beat it fu'm with a pestle round the ball and sides of the pot, 

 using the soil rather wetter than when it is strong. When 

 potted it must be decided whether the shoots are to be 

 trained to a trellis about 9 inches from the glass or upright 

 to a stake. If the plant is to be trained in the former 

 manner it may be placed in the house at once, a stake of 

 sufficient length to reach the trellis being put to it, but if 

 not intended for a trellis, stake at the time of potting, using 

 a stick 4 or 5 feet long, according to the height which the 

 plant is intended to attain. Take the plants into the house 

 as each is potted, and every time the house is entered it 

 should feel warm and close. Give a gentle watering, and do 

 not water too freely at first, reserving copious waterings 

 until tlie pots are filled with roots ; and to guard against 

 the soil cracking or leaving the sides of the pot, a little 

 moss placed on the surface will answer perfectly. Keep the 

 soil just mo'st by gentle waterings until the roots fill the 

 pots, after which water copiously, yet not oftener than the 

 state of the soil shows moisture to be necessary. 



Syringe every available surface morning and evening with 

 water of the temperature of the house, and on hot days 

 sprinkle the plants overhead, and especially on the under 

 sides of tke leaves. This syringing should be diminished 

 when the fruit or blossoms are setting, and also when the 

 fruit is ripening. When the fruit is set and swelling every 

 alternate watering may be of liquid manure, consisting of 

 1 oz. of guano dissolved in a gallon of water, or manure 

 water slightly discoloured, but be careful in using the latter. 

 When the fruit begins to ripen give less moisture, both at 

 the root and in the atmosphere. 



Very little air need be given Melons in such houses, for 

 the heat being that of the sun is better for plants than arti- 

 ficial heat, yet a little should be given early in the morning, 

 letting the thermometer determine the time ; when it reads 

 at 80" admit a little, and if the mercury rises to 90° all the 

 better, only shut up eai'ly in the afternoon, or before the 

 temperature falls below 85*. 



Train the shoot up to the trellis, removing all buds until 

 it reach it, and then stop at the eighth joint after it has 

 attained that length, none of the eyes between these two 

 points having been removed. So with the shoots trained 

 upright to stakes, remove all the buds at the axils until the 

 required height is attained, and then stop the shoot, leaving 

 six joints. These throw out fruit at the first or second 

 joint, and the process of stopping described elsewhere being 

 attended to, the blooms will set, and two fruits will be as 

 many as the plant can swell well and bring to maturity. 



Owing to the frequent watering the plants are rather 

 liable to go off at the collar. To prevent this the soil should 

 be raised in the centre of the pot in order to throw the 

 water towards the sides ; but as in that case only the soil 

 at the outside will be properly moistened, it is advisable to 

 raise the soil at the rim also, and thus form a trench be- 

 tween the sides of the pot and the neck of the plant. It 

 will be advantageous to plunge the pots when the air of the 

 house is kept drier during the ripening process ; for dry air 

 deprives the soil too rapidly of moisture, and much v.-atering 

 deteriorates the flavour. It is, therefore, advisable to pre- 

 vent evaporation by plunging the pot, or covering it with a 

 mat, rather than water fieely. 



Fruit from plants grown in pots is certainly smaller ; but 

 what is lost in size is made up in quality, small or medium- 

 sized Melons being the best flavoured, as the sap is more 

 concentrated on the fruit through the check on luxuriance, 

 which pot culture always exerts on the plants subjected 

 to it. 



rROP.\G\TIONr BT CUTTINGS. 



Though Melons ai'e,usually raised from seed, it is possible 

 to ft'uit them in about half the time if propagated by cut- 

 tings. This mode is the most rapid and certain way of 



