90 Upon the Cultivation of the Persian Varieties of the Melon. 



be able to obtain two abundant crops of excellent Melons within 

 the same season.* If these expectations should prove to be well 

 founded, I conceive that forcing houses, such as I have described, 

 for the culture of very early Cucumbers and Persian Melons, might 

 be erected with advantage in those districts in which coals are 

 raised; for the dust of coals is all that is wanted, and in fact is 

 preferable, and Cucumbers can be sent to a very considerable dis- 

 tance without suffering much, and Melons without suffering any 

 deterioration. 



The best varieties of Persian Melons are, I believe, very subject 

 to burst when raised in this country ; and I imagine that they very 

 frequently do so in their native country ; for Sir Harford Jones 

 Bridges informed me, that he had heard the Persian Gardeners 

 express fear when a horse was ridden at a rapid pace near the 

 Melon beds, that the vibration of the soil would cause the Melons 

 to burst. It occurred to me in the last summer, that Melons might 

 possibly be made more safe from accidents of this kind, if I raised 

 their points higher than their stems, and thus caused gravitation, 

 which operates very powerfully upon the form and growth of plants, 

 to assist in carrying away any excess of fluid, which the fruit, from 

 any cause, might happen, at any period, to contain. I consequently 

 gave to every Melon an elevation of thirty degrees, and not one of 

 those failed to ripen in a whole and perfect state; but whether 

 owing to any action of gravitation or not, I am, of course, unpre- 

 pared to decide : the experiment, however, appears worth repeat- 

 ing. I suspect Melons frequently burst owing to the injurious 

 effects of the pressure of their weight upon their lower sides ; for 

 when I have suffered them to hang down perpendicularly, they 

 have always ripened well, but the Ispahan Melons, under such 

 circumstances, assumed forms nearly similar to those of Cucumbers 

 swollen at their points, and such forms are to my eyes very un- 

 pleasing. 



* I shall obtain three successions in the present season. 



