84 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



tinues. It is impossible to make a hard and fast rule in this matter, but the 

 foregoing are safe rules to follow, the object being to provide sufficient new 

 growths to keep the plants in health. At the same time overcrowding must be 

 avoided, and when necessary the grower should not fail to cut out a useless, 

 barren branch or superfluous laterals ; endeavour to have a trellis covered with 

 healthy foliage that will help the plants to develop and mature a crop of perfect 

 fruits. As soon as the fruits have reached the size of a hen's egg they should 

 be supported. The most useful article for this purpose is a small net which can 

 be bought for the purpose at a trifling cost, or a piece of strong raffia placed 

 crossways under the fruit and tied to the trellis answers very well. 



So far we have been considering the first early crop of melons, which is 

 never so heavy as later crops are ; later plants therefore should be planted 

 more than 2 feet apart, the distance recommended for early ones. If it is decided 

 to grow the plants with single stems, as advised for the early crop, they should 

 be planted 2^ feet apart, and the main stems allowed to grow uninterruptedly 

 until they have reached the limit of the trellis. In the meanwhile many 

 laterals will have formed, nearly all of which will produce a fruit ; from them 

 a selection of the best should be made in order to secure a full crop of three 

 or four fruits to a plant. Many years ago a common method of melon- 

 growing was that known as the " extension " system, i.e. planting one or two 

 plants in a house, and allowing them to extend until the whole surface of the 

 trellis was covered by their shoots alone. There is no doubt that excellent 

 melons may be grown in this way, and it is also a fact that two, and sometimes 

 three, crops may be obtained from the same plants in one season. The first 

 crop is always good, but the second and third crops are not usually so. Where 

 this system is adopted it is necessary to prune the plants rather severely after 

 each crop has been gathered in order to make room for plenty of young growth 

 to provide the next fruits. I have found better and more profitable results from 

 the single stem system of cropping, and by this it is possible to secure three good 

 crops from the same house in one season. 



Canker. — One of the greatest sources of trouble in the cultivation of the 

 melon is the liability of the stem to collapse just as the fruits are about to ripen, 

 often blasting with bitter disappointment all the labour and care of anxious 

 months. The man who can point out a safe and perfect cure for this dreaded 

 complaint would deserve well of his brother-gardeners ; but as he has yet to be 

 found, the best I can do is to suggest a few preventives and a partial remedy. 

 It will be remembered that at first I recommended the plant to be grown 

 without manures of any kind, the object being to produce a healthy and 

 sound plant in preference to a soft and gross one. This, in my opinion, is 

 the greatest safeguard against this disease. Another is not to cut the laterals too 

 closely which form on the stem at its base (where canker always appears), but 

 let them remain, and stop them at the fourth leaf. I think to cut away 

 the laterals at the base of the stem often helps to produce this disease by 

 reason of the wounds formed. When once canker is perceived (and the first 

 indication is a slight black mark on the stem) the best thing to apply is Portland 

 cement, putting it dry on the affected part. If the disease is not arrested by the 



