July 26, 1877. 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



65 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 1 Day 



of 1 of 



Month Week. 



JULY 26— AUG. 1, 1877. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Snn 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 



Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Snn. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 











26 



Th 





73.7 



50.3 



62.0 



4 17 



7 56 



8 40 



5 6 



16 



6 14 



207 



27 



F 



Qnecket (Microscopical) Clnb Anniversary at 8 p.m. 



74.9 



50.7 



62.8 



4 18 



7 54 



8 52 



6 19 



17 



6 14 



2S8 



28 



S 



Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 r-.M. 



76.4 



50.8 



63.6 



4 20 



7 63 



9 2 



7 30 



18 



6 IS 



209 



29 



Sun 



9 Sunday, after Trinity. 



75.5 



49.9 



62.7 



4 21 



7 61 



9 12 



8 40 



19 



6 11 



210 



30 



M 





75.2 



50.2 



62.7 



4 23 



7 60 



9 23 



9 49 



20 



6 9 



211 



81 



To 





74.9 



50.0 



62.4 



4 24 



7 48 



9 34 



11 1 



21 



6 6 



212 



1 



W 



Lammas Day. 



75.6 



50.4 



63.0 



i 26 



7 46 



9 48 



15 



22 



6 2 



213 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years 

 60.3 '. 



the average day temperature of the week is 75.2° ; and its night temperature 



CONDITION AND QUALITY OF MELONS. 



ELONS were generally very poor last year 

 in the south ; they were small in size and 

 indifferent in quality. I had the oppor- 

 tunity of tasting many fruits exhibited — 

 perhaps nearly all — at the metropolitan 

 shows, and very few really first-class 

 Melons were submitted to the judges. 



Two of the best fruits of the year — good 

 in size, handsome in appearance, and of 

 excellent quality, were Eastnor Castle, 

 green flesh, exhibited at the Royal Botanic Society's 

 Show, and Blankney Hero, exhibited at the Alexandra 

 Palace. Reid's Netted was excellent in most instances, 

 as was the good old variety Turner's Golden Gem ; nor 

 must I omit mentioning a fruit of A. F. Barron, exhibited 

 by Mr. Pithers at the Richmond Show, which was cer- 

 tainly one of the best Melons of the year. Several good 

 fruits of Victory of Bath were also exhibited, while others 

 were indifferent in quality. 



What was the cause of the low standard of quality of 

 Melons last year ? and what is the reason that the same 

 variety is so variable in quality even when exhibited by 

 the same cultivator ? 



These two questions may be worthy of a little con- 

 sideration at the present time. I can only attribute the 

 general unsatisfactory condition of so many fruits to ex- 

 cessive heat and its consequence a deficiency of moisture, 

 also to the somewhat marked prevalence of red spider. 

 My reason for attributing the flavourless character of 

 many fruits to extreme heat and drought is in a measure 

 derived from the fact that Melons in the northern counties, 

 where the heat was less intense, were, as a rule, greatly 

 superior to Melons in the south last year. I have ob- 

 served also during several years of practice that it is a 

 mistake to adopt a fixed rule in withholding water from 

 Melons when they are approaching the ripening stage. 

 That is a very old custom which was adopted by our 

 forefathers, and it is surprising our old customs — simply 

 because they are old — cling to the inhabitants of our old 

 country. Our forefathers may have been right in the 

 practice which they adopted, and I believe they were 

 right; but — a very important "but" is that — they grew 

 Melons on dung beds, while many are now grown over 

 hot-water pipes. 



I was told by a gentleman the other day that the 

 standard quality of his Melons was better half a century 

 ago than it is now. That is a strange comment on the 

 " progress of the age," and somewhat interferes with the 

 " great improvements " which have been recorded during 

 every consecutive year of the present generation. I am 

 inclined to believe that the gentleman alluded to was 

 right, first because he is an excellent judge of Melons 

 and is most observant in comparing the quality of garden 

 produce, and secondly because I never remember having 

 tasted better Melons than the old Beechwoods of thirty 

 and the Bromham Halls of more than twenty years ago. 

 The best Melon supply that I am cognisant of was 



No. 852 —Vol. XXXIII., New Series. 



produced in a nobleman's garden about the period last 

 alluded to, and where Bromham Hall was almost exclu- 

 sively grown. I mean by that, that many large frames 

 were devoted to that variety, and the fruit of it was 

 counted by hundreds, while other varieties were only 

 grown " for trial " — a plant of a sort, and not one was 

 at that time found to equal Bromham Hall. Never do 

 I remember hearing a single complaint of inferior quality 

 when that good old sort was sent in for dessert ; and 

 never do I remember taking fruit to either local or the 

 great metropolitan exhibitions which did not win first 

 honours. 



The Melons, as remarked, were grown in dung-heated 

 frames ; a few were grown in a house heated with hot 

 water, but the prize Melons were always cut from the 

 frames. The gardener — for I was only an "under- 

 strapper " then — was an excellent cultivator of fruit and 

 plants generally and of Melons particularly. I never 

 knew a gardener to give so much water to Melons as he 

 did, and he continued it until the very day of cutting the 

 fruit. Not a red spider was permitted on the foliage ; the 

 frames were kept too moist and the foliage too stout in 

 texture for this pest gaining a footing, and every leaf 

 was fully exposed to the light. There was not the slightest 

 semblance of overcrowding of the foliage, and pruning as 

 it is generally understood was not adopted. Every after- 

 noon when watering, every shoot that was not wanted 

 was picked-off with the finger and thumb before it was 

 an inch in length ; thus no check was given to the plants 

 and no useless growth permitted in the frames. Over- 

 cropping was particularly guarded against, and the foliage 

 when the fruit was cut was as green and healthy as at 

 any period during the season ; indeed the early plants 

 (the first crop was ripe at the end of May) always pro- - 

 duced two crops. The plants were frequently watered 

 and their foliage sprinkled with perfectly clear soot water. 

 To that I attributed their extreme health, the rich dark 

 clean foliage, and the absence of red spider. 



The grower of those Melons was an excellent judge as 

 to the exact time for cutting the fruit and placing it on 

 the table. Many times have I seen a fruit rejected as 

 being " too ripe " — a day too old. Its peifume has been 

 rich, but when cut the general quality of the fruit haB 

 almost invariably not been perfect. I think there is 2> 

 great deal in placing a Melon on the table just at the - 

 right time ; and I think it possible that they are often 

 placed there and sent to exhibitions a day too late»- 

 Unless that is so, how can we account for the great 

 difference in quality of Melons of the same variety ? I 

 could submit several instances of the variations of 'Melons- 

 on the point of quality, but two will suffice. Last year 

 Mr. Frisby exhibited a Melon named Cocoa-nut before 

 the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 but as then staged the fruit was comparatively flavour- 

 less, and the Committee were not justified in awarding 

 it their approval. Subsequently a fruit of the same 

 variety was exhibited at the Alexandra Palace, and was 

 awarded a first-class certificate, Mr. Douglas — who is also 

 a member of the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horti- 



No. 1504.— Vol. LVni., Old Series. 



