668 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



seems impossible. If only really good varieties 

 were to be grown, this crossing might be of less 

 consequence, as the chances are that varieties 

 may appear equal to the parents. It is, how- 

 ever, most desirable to exclude all doubtful 

 sorts, for one bad variety may greatly dete- 

 riorate the whole stock. 



Insects and diseases. — The same insects infest 

 the cucumber as the melon {which see). The 

 diseases are mildew, canker, gumming, and mal- 

 formation of the fruit. The fruit, when grown 

 in too low a temperature, often becomes so 

 bitter as to be uneatable ; and such is the case 

 in cold seasons with many that are grown in the 

 open fields and gardens. This bitterness arises 

 from an imperfect elaboration of the juices ; 

 those in the neck part of the fruit being least 

 digested, it is always the most bitter part. 

 Deformity in the fruit depends on insufficient 

 nourishment or over-cropping, and points out 

 its own remedy. Gumming and canker arise 

 often from a deficiency of heat in the beds, 

 with excess of water, particularly if applied in 

 a cold state. It is one of the most fatal, and if 

 not taken in time destroys the fruit, and often 

 the plant also. It is believed by some to be in- 

 fectious, but this is not the case ; a drier atmos- 

 phere and increased temperature are the principal 

 remedies ; and if taken in time the ulceration 

 may be greatly arrested by applying caustic lime 

 or charcoal in a powdered state to the parts as 

 soon as the spot appears. Mildew is mainly 

 caused by too dry an atmosphere, and may be 

 subdued by frequent applications of sulphur 

 applied by the sulphurating machine in a dry 

 state. Neither the melon nor cucumber is at 

 all liable to disease, if kept in a vigorous-grow- 

 ing state ; but when, from injudicious treatment, 

 disease of any kind appears, an alteration of that 

 treatment must be instantly set about. It is 

 seldom that either of these diseases attacks 

 the plants when grown in properly constructed 

 houses or pits, having the branches trained to a 

 trellis under the glass ; but when they are grown 

 in close, damp, ill-ventilated pits or frames, and 

 their roots permitted to extend into the dung- 

 bed below, either, if not both, of these diseases 

 is likely to ensue. 



The European names are — Concombre in 

 French — Gurke in German — Komkommer in 

 Dutch — Pepino in Spanish and Portuguese— 

 Cetriuolo in Italian — Kira, Indian — Ogorek in 

 Polish — Ogurzi in Russian. 



§ 2. — THE MELON. 



The Melon (Cucumis melo), or Musk melon, 

 and Cucumis citrullus, the Water melon, have 

 been cultivated from the earliest ages; and al- 

 though the former is stated in the " Hortus 

 Britannica " to be a native of the East Indies, 

 and the latter of the south of Europe, both have 

 been so long in cultivation in all warm climates 

 that it is quite doubtful from what country 

 either of them originally came. The date of 

 the introduction of the Musk melon into Bri- 

 tain is set down at 1570, and of the water melon 

 1597. The Musk melon, a name now nearly 

 obsolete, was brought to this country from 



Jamaica, the Cantaleups from the neighbour- 

 hood of Rome, the Romanas from Italy— also 

 differing from the Cantaleups in being larger, 

 oval- shaped, netted on the surface, with larger 

 foliage, and more abundant bearers. From these 

 two sections most of the varieties long cultivated 

 in Britain originated, in consequence of their 

 being often grown together in the same frame, 

 and hence the one became crossed with the 

 other, producing almost innumerable varieties, 

 many of them for a time maintaining a degree 

 of popularity ; but, like all annual fruits in 

 general cultivation, they have been continually 

 changing, so that the sorts that were held in the 

 greatest esteem, even within our own recollec- 

 tion, are now only historically known. Melons 

 are at present divided into four pretty distinct 

 sections ; namely, Cantaleups and Romanas — ■ 

 which includes the Rocks, the Scarlet and Green 

 fleshed varieties, the type of all of which was 

 probably the old Musk melon — the Winter 

 melons, Persian melons, and, lastly, the Water 

 melons, which latter is a distinct species. 



Cultivation. — The melon was long cultivated, 

 like its near congener the cucumber, on beds of 

 fermenting material, a process attended with 

 vast labour, care, expense, and waste of manure. 

 Although many gardeners managed, by these 

 rude and very uncertain means, to cut cucum- 

 bers through the winter and very early in spring, 

 few, if any, attempted the ripening of the melon 

 till a more advanced period of the season. A 

 great improvement took place in the culture of 

 this esteemed fruit, when men began to think of 

 growing them trained to trellises at a consider- 

 able distance from the soil they grow in, so that 

 the fruit might hang suspended, and derive a 

 full share of sun, light, and heat, placing the 

 fruit in a far better position to ripen on all sides 

 alike than when lying on the damp ground with 

 probably the indulgence of a piece of slate or 

 broken flower-pot under it — a position the worst 

 of all others for allowing full maturity to take 

 place on all sides; and hence that portion which 

 lay undermost was always deficient in colour, 

 shape, or flavour. Not so with melons grown 

 suspended from the roof of a house or pit ; and 

 hence capacious houses have been since erected 

 for the growth of both melons and cucumbers, and 

 pits variously modified and enlarged for a like 

 purpose. In vol. i., section Melon and Cucumber 

 Houses, several examples will be seen. Fig. 640, 

 which is one of those in use in the fine gardens at 

 Trentham, and in which Mr Fleming has so suc- 

 cessfully grown his celebrated hybrid Ispahan 

 varieties, may be referred to as an economical 

 and good example. This melon is well known 

 and esteemed, not only for its superior flavour, 

 but also for its productiveness, one set of plants 

 being sufficient to produce fruit throughout the 

 season. From this pit ripe fruit has been cut 

 at the unusually early period of the middle of 

 April, and the last at the end of October, a 

 period of nearly six months, the same plants 

 continuing all that time in bearing. The cu- 

 cumber and melon houses at Poltalloch, fig. 652, 

 afford a specimen of our own ideas of what such 

 houses should be, and, together with the excel- 

 lent houses in the Royal Gardens at Frogmore, 



