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XXIV. On the Cultivation of the Melon in open Frames. By John 

 Williams, Esq. C. M. H. S. In a Letter to the Secretary. 



Read February 21, 1837. 



Dear Sir, 



W hen I had the pleasure of meeting you at Downton in Sep- 

 tember 1835, I brought with me specimens of Melons ripened 

 under a covering of glass, but laterally exposed on all sides to free 

 ventilation. I recollect the flavour of one or two of the kinds I 

 produced was much commended by the horticultural party then 

 on a visit to Mr. Knight ; and I promised to send you the parti- 

 culars of my mode of culture. But as the summer of 1835 was 

 favourable, I was desirous of trying my plan a second season, before 

 I submitted it to the consideration of the Horticultural Society. 



Last summer, although the weather was unusually dry, it was 

 cold, the influence of the sun on the surface appearing to be swept 

 away by the frequent gales of wind we experienced from the wes- 

 tern ocean in June, July, and September. The only steady warm 

 weather we were favoured with (according to my journal) was in 

 August, when we had about eight or ten days of easterly wind. 

 My melons, however, planted under the open frame, produced a 

 most abundant late crop, superior in quality to any I partook of 

 ripened under glass frames with closed sides. 



Nothing can be more simple than the construction of my glass 

 covering. I sink a shallow pit about nine inches or a foot deep in 

 the ground, a strong wood frame is made the size of the intended 

 bed to support the glass. My frame is 18 feet long, by 8 feet 3 

 inches wide, each light is divided into two parts, the upper part 

 being the shortest. By this division the lights receive less injury 



VOL. II. 2d. series. y 



