THE MELON. 213 



The application of fresh warm linings must be 

 provided for by having a heap of fermenting material 

 always ready. And air-giving, to keep the bed sweet 

 and free from steam, must receive extra attention with 

 the application of every fresh lining. 



TRAINING AlfD STOPPING. 



When the first rough leaf is expanded, and a leading 

 shoot is formed, the training of the plants must be 

 determined by their subsequent treatment. If they are 

 to be grown raised on a trellis a little above the soil 

 in a brick pit, heated by fermenting material, their 

 leaders must not be pinched, and of course the same 

 is applicable to those that are to be fruited in more 

 modern melon-houses, and I may say that it also 

 applies to what I consider the best way of planting 

 and training them in an ordinary dung-frame. The 

 common practice in this latter case is to pinch out the 

 leading shoot as soon as it is formed. This forces the 

 plants to form several growths, which, when they have 

 grown to 5 or 6 inches, and the pots are moderately 

 filled with roots, renders the plants ready for being 

 planted out in the fruiting-bed — two in the centre of 

 each light. Three shoots are trained from each plant — 

 the shoots of one to the back, and those of the other to 

 the front of the frame, one shoot towards each corner, 

 and the other to the middle of the light. These shoots 

 are stopped when within 8 or 10 inches of the side of 

 the frame, and the laterals which they throw out 

 produce the fruit. In this case the plants are twice 

 stopped and of course twice checked. What I recom- 

 mend in preference to this system is not to stop the 



