208 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



The varieties of melons that have been and are now 

 in cultivation may be said to be almost innumerable. 

 So exceedingly simple and certain — indeed so difficult 

 of prevention where more than one variety are culti- 

 vated in the same garden — is their hybridisation, that 

 every season is productive of fresh varieties in the 

 majority of gardens. There are, however, three dis- 

 tinct types, which are known as the scarlet-fleshed, 

 the varieties of which have sprung from the more 

 hardy Cantaloupe ; the green-fleshed, from the Egyp- 

 tian green-fleshed ; and the white-fleshed, from Ihe 

 more tender Persian varieties. The green-fleshed are 

 the least attractive in appearance, but are generally 

 the best flavoured in this country. The scarlets have 

 of late years had some excellent additions to their 

 lists. Some of the white-fleshed are thin-skinned, 

 finely flavoured, and handsome ; but to bring them to 

 perfection requires . more heat, and especially intense 

 sunshine, than this country affords. According to the 

 statements of travellers, there are melons in Bokhara 

 and Turkestan which far surpass any cultivated in this 

 country. But probably the intense sun and aridity 

 of the atmosphere, with the attention paid to supply 

 them liberally with water, may have more to do with 

 their lusciousness and flavour than mere varieties ; 

 and they are, besides, more exquisitely relished in 

 these hot dry countries than in this comparatively 

 cold and sunless latitude, where they can only be cul- 

 tivated under glass, aided with artificial heat both in 

 the soil and air. 



The chief improvement which has been effected in 

 melon-culture during this generation may be said to 

 consist in their being more generally cultivated in 

 melon-houses, trained near the glass on wire trellises ; 



