THE MELON. 221 



summer culture, span -roofed houses running north 

 and south may be considered the best. I have, how- 

 ever, no difficulty with summer and early autumn 

 crops in the north aspect of houses running east and 

 west. Indeed, the difference only consists in the 

 desirable one, of the crop from those on the north 

 forming a succession to those on the south aspect. 

 This, however, only holds good in the case of those 

 not planted before May, nor ripened after the middle 

 of October. The best arrangement in the case of 

 those who have only a melon-house of limited extent, 

 and who at the same time desire to have melons 

 continuously, say from the end of May to Novem- 

 ber, is to produce their earliest and latest crops from 

 the melon-house, and to fill up the interval with a 

 summer supply from dung-frames or pits, in which 

 case I decidedly advise the lean-to form, as shown 

 and described in connection with cucumbers, p. 264. 

 Where a supply is required only from July till the 

 middle of October, the span-roofed house is best, and 

 it is desirable to have it divided into three succes- 

 sional compartments of equal proportions. Although 

 I have succeeded in bringing on three successional 

 crops in one long division perfectly well, yet these 

 crops would be better in separate divisions, ihasmuch as 

 when the melons planted for the first and second crops 

 are ripe, these compartments can be more successfully 

 and conveniently used for anything else — such, for in- 

 stance, as tomatoes that have been grown in pots in 

 the open air, and many other things besides. When 

 in more than one compartment, the heating should be 

 arranged so as to be able to heat sufficiently all at 

 once, or to heat each separately ; and also that the 

 bottom and top heat-supplying pipes can be worked 



