412 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ November 22, 1864. 



have to retard his spikes, as the foliage gets lengthy, and 

 what professional gardeners call drawn, which tells very 

 much against a show of otherwise good flowers. To force 

 them is much better, but the best of all treatment in my ex- 

 perience is to allow them their own way. Do you know I 

 cannot dress my spikes as I see some done, and I am a little 

 put out about it ; for doubtless a fine pyramidal spike with 

 flowers looking you straight in the face, and regularly 

 placed all round is what is most admired. I wish some of 

 your able correspondents would advise me in this particular, 

 I like to attend to and master everything I take in hand. 

 My frame is now filled with 



4 Lord Wellington. 



3 General Havelock. 



4 Prince Albert. 

 2 Mimosa. 



2 General Pelissier. 



3 Alba Superbissima. 



3 Orondates, 



4 Mont Blanc. 

 2 Snowball, 



1 Queen of the Netherlands, 



1 La Tour d'Auvergne (forcing). 



2 Madame Van der Hoop. 



4 Charles Dickens. 

 3 Laurens Koster, 

 3 Van Speyk. 



2 Bloksberg. 



3 Grandeur a Merveille. 



4 Ma^aulay. 



3 General Cavaignac. 

 2 Mrs. B. Stowe. 



2 Monsieur d'Faesch. 



4 Von Schiller. 



2 Koh-i-Noor. 



3 Canning. 



"Aliqtji." — (West of Scotland Horticultural Magazine.) 



CULTIVATION OP THE MELON. 



(Continued from page 293.) 



MELONS IN HOUSES. 



In houses the Melon requires the same conditions of soil, 

 temperature, moisture, &c, though different in their appli- 

 cation, and that difference I will now dispose of. 



Presuming that there is not a hotbed constantly at work, 

 there should be provided a small bos, 3 feet by 2 feet, and 

 about 1 foot deep, after the manner of a garden frame, and 

 this placed on a foot of rubble over a hot-water pipe, and as 

 near the glass as practicable, will form an excellent place to 

 raise seedlings. The frame should, of course, have a glass 

 covering, and if in making it little wood is employed in 

 proportion to the glass it could not be made better; for 

 young plants, especially young Melons, cannot have too 

 much light. The glass covering should either be moveable, 

 or fixed on hinges, so that it can be raised at will for the 

 purpose of admitting air, or examining the plants. The 

 rubble may be covered with 6 inches of tan, in which to 

 plunge the pots, and this should be heated sufficiently to 

 afford a bottom heat of 85°, and a top heat of from 70° to 

 80°. These conditions having been secured, the seeds should 

 be sown singly in 60-sized pots in the compost already men- 

 tioned, which should be in a moderately dry condition, as if 

 wet the seeds are apt to rot instead of germinating, espe- 

 cially if old seed is sown. A certain degree of moisture 

 is necessary to germination; the soil should therefore be 

 moist, but not soddened with water. The seeds should 

 be covered about a quarter of an inch deep, and if the soil 

 be moist no water will be needed at the time of sowing. 

 Shut the frame closely, and keep it so until the plants 

 appear, this they will do in a week, or less. When the coty- 

 ledons or seed leaves appear admit a little air, and give 

 some water if necessary, but not too much, or the plants 

 will damp off at the surface. Be very careful not to let the 

 plants become drawn at this stage ; any symptoms of this 

 are to be immediately checked by tilting the light more, 

 and if this does not effect the object, remove it altogether. 

 "When the plants show their rough leaves pot them in 24' s, 

 sufficiently low that the stem may be covered with soil to 

 within an inch of the seed leaves. The soil for potting 

 should be placed within the frame for forty-eight hours, in 

 order that it may be of the same temperature as that in 

 which the plants were previously. Give water sparingly, 

 but whenever necessary, and then at the same temperature 

 as the frame hotbed, which should now be from 80° to 85°. 

 The plunging material should be kept moist, and the evapo- 

 ration from it will be sufficient for the foliage at this early 

 stage. 



After two rough leaves have been made it must be de- 

 cided whether the plants are wanted with a stem or not. If 

 the trellis on which they are to be trained is within a few 

 nches of the soil in which they are soon to be planted no 



stem is necessary ; the leading point is therefore pinched 

 out ; but if a foot or more above it, the leading shoot must 

 then be allowed to grow, removing, by rubbing off close, the 

 side shoots formed along its stem until the required height 

 is reached, when it should be stopped. This should not, 

 however, be done until the plant is turned out, and not then 

 if the trellis is 6 feet or more in width. If the vines are to 

 be trained on the soil the plants should be stopped at the 

 second rough leaf, and be treated in respect to training pre- 

 cisely the same as Melons in dung-frames. 



When the plants are potted, the house in which they are 

 to be planted should be made ready for their reception. 

 The walls should be thoroughly washed with lime, mixing 

 a pound of sulphur with each gallon of lime wash. If the 

 old soil is not yet removed, it must all be taken away, and 

 replaced with fresh, but only sufficient to raise at the place 

 of planting- a hillock of the required height. In putting 

 on the soil it is necessary to see that the rubble over the 

 pipes, tanks, &c, is not choked with soil, and if this is the 

 case it must be riddled to free it of the dirt. The depth of 

 rubble over hot-water pipes should in no case be less than 

 6 inches, whilst an inch will do over tanks. To prevent the 

 rubble becoming choked with soil, a layer of turf an inch 

 thick (charred to free it of wireworms) will be of service. On 

 this place about 3 inches of soil, and then the hills may be 

 raised in their proper positions, which will be, as a matter of 

 course, at the lowest part of the trellis. The soil should not 

 be wet, neither should it be dry, but healthfully moist. The 

 house by the time of planting-out should have a temperature 

 of from 70° to 75°, without sun heat, and the temperature of 

 the soil should not be less than 80° or 85° at bottom, and 

 80° within the hillock. This should be double the size of 

 those usually placed in frames on dung hotbeds, and the 

 depth of cavity for soil must be equal to 1 foot for each foot 

 of trellis to be covered. Borders of soil, however, 3 feet wide 

 and 1 foot deep, will support plants covering a trellis 6 feet 

 wide, by surface-dressings of manure. This being done the 

 house should be sprinkled with water so as to create a moist 

 atmosphere, and it is well to admit air, and shut up for a 

 few days prior to planting-out, so as to have a sweet and 

 pure atmosphere. It is well, too, if the woodwork need 

 painting, to have this done whilst the house or pit is empty, 

 and all needful repair's should be done at the same time. 



These conditions secured the plants should be planted 

 when they are of sufficient size to reach the trellis. The 

 distance apart is dependant on the width of the trellis. If 

 it is 4 feet wide put one plant under each light, but if 5 feet 

 wide let them be 2! feet apart, whilst for a six-feet trellis 

 they should be 2 feet apart. The trellis should be near the 

 glass, the most suitable distance, in my opinion, is 8 or 

 9 inches. If nearer the leaves are liable to be scorched, 

 especially when wet, and spotted in consequence, and if at a 

 greater distance they invariably have long foot-stalks, which 

 are very undesirable. After planting give a gentle watering, 

 and maintain a night temperature of 70°, with a rise of 5° 

 or 10° without sun, but of 10°, 15°, or even 20°, with sun, 

 admitting air at 80°, and shutting up early with the ther- 

 mometer at 85°. Every available surface should be sprinkled 

 with water of the same temperature as the house, between 

 S and 9 a.h., and again at shutting-up, at 3 or 4 p.m. 



At planting the vines should be tied loosely to the trellis 

 at their proper distances apart — that is, if planted 3 feet 

 apart, there should be three shoots 1 foot apart ; if at 2 w feet 

 a like number at as nearly equal distances as possible; if 

 2 feet, two shoots, which we obtain by stopping ; and if the 

 trellis is 6 feet or more in width, we have but one shoot 

 from a plant. Whether there be one or >more shoots re- 

 tained to train in at a foot apart (and these should be the 

 strongest, and the trellis close to the ground), we do not stop 

 the shoots, but rub out all besides them, and train to the 

 upper side of the trellis, keeping them well tied down, but 

 leaving sufficient room in tying to allow of the shoots grow- 

 ing. These are allowed to advance without stopping, until 

 they reach to within 6 inches of the width of the trellis. 

 The point of each is then taken out, and we have laterals 

 already emitted at the base, more to come at the top, and 

 the lower ones to be rendered more vigorous by stopping 

 the leading shoot. These laterals will proceed right and 

 left of the main shoot or stem, as we will now term it, and 

 on them the fruit is expected to appear at the second or 



