C 349 ] 



L. On the Cultivation, of Melons in the open air. In a 

 Letter to the Secretary. By John Williams, Esq. 

 Corresponding Member of the Society. 



Read March 4th, 1823. 



Dear Sir, 



According to promise, T send you an account of my 

 method of growing Melons in the open air, a practice by no 

 means common in this part of the kingdom, though I believe 

 frequent in the more southern counties. 



I have for some years past been trying to give increased 

 hardiness to the Melon, and with this view have made use, 

 every year, of the seed matured in the open air during the 

 preceding summer. The plants have in consequence be- 

 come so hardy, that in the two last seasons they grew, 

 and the fruit set as well as a common gourd. The 

 whole contrivance for presenting the plant to the solar in- 

 fluence in the most advantageous way, and at the same time 

 giving a little warmth to the roots, does not cost more than 

 a few shillings. 



My bed this year is twenty-one feet long ; I have already 

 cut fifteen Melons, and my gardener tells me there are 

 upwards of thirty-five more, that will ripen before the plants 

 are killed by the cold. 



