228 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



ing the ripening of the fruit need not be repeated 

 here. Only I would just remark that I do not practise 

 the excessive drying at the root system in summer crops 

 which is sometimes followed. I give more air, and allow 

 the light to play freely about the fruit, but avoid starv- 

 ing them. Even if it did improve the flavour, such 

 treatment would be against other fruits which have not 

 just arrived at the finishing-point. And it is indis- 

 pensable to quality in melons that the foliage be preserved 

 intact till they perfect their crop. 



When grown trained to wires thus, the fruit should 

 be supported as soon as they show that there is an 

 undue strain upon the stem. This is an unnatural 

 attitude for melons, and they require support. I prefer 

 small square pieces of common garden-net or hexagon 

 netting with a piece of cord, or, what is better, an 

 elastic band at each corner, so that as the fruit expands 

 the support yields. Square pieces of porcelain have 

 been used and recommended for this, but I have dis- 

 continued them, because moisture gathers more or less 

 about the crown of the melon when it rests on such 

 supports, and disfigures it. This does not apply to 

 netting. 



VARIETIES. 



The varieties in cultivation are so numerous, and 

 every district has its favourite varieties more or less 

 peculiar to itself, that there is perhaps more dif- 

 ference of opinion and less recognition of any standard 

 varieties among growers of the melon than in the case 

 of any other fruit. From my own experience in widely 

 different localities and soils, I am inclined to think that 

 certain kinds do better in some districts than others. 



