122 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
seeds from being eaten by mice before germination. The pots are placed 
in a brisk bottom heat in one of the stoves, and the young plants make 
their appearance in a few. days, and, when large enough, they are potted 
singly in 3 -inch pots. Some gardeners recommend putting two seeds in 
a small pot, and after germination removing the weakest plant, which 
obviates the necessity of potting, and the risk of giving the plants a 
check in the operation. But, after all, the advantage gained by this 
method is more theoretical than real, and for various reasons I adopt the 
one first described. 
Soil. — Melons can be grown in ordinary garden soil enriched with 
crushed bones, wood ashes, or rotten stable manure, and produce good 
crops. But from long experience, I consider the best of all soils for the 
Melon is a yellow fibrous loam taken from the surface of a meadow that 
has lain in pasture for several years, and stacked in a ridge for some 
time to mellow before being used. It should then be chopped up 
roughly, and a little leaf mould, old mortar, and wood ashes added to 
it, and all thoroughly mixed together by turning it over several times. 
In soil of this description I grow Melons for three years in succession 
without changing it. Some time before it is required, it is dug over to 
the bottom, and the soil thrown up roughly to dry and sweeten. Be- 
fore planting it the lumps are broken, and the border trod all over, made 
firm and level, and mounds of fresh soil made on the top to start the 
plants in. 
Some growers still continue to fill only a portion of the border at 
first — ^just sufficient soil to start the plants — and w^hen it is permeated 
with roots more soil is gradually added until the border is filled. I do 
not think there is m.uch advantage gained by this method ; besides, it 
makes more labour at a season when there is plenty of other work to be 
done. I always have the borders filled at once and made firm, and 
the soil is allowed to get thoroughly warm before the plants are set 
out. To do Melons well they should be allowed plenty of room to 
develop, and I never plant them closer than four feet apart, on 
mounds of earth raised four inches higher than the level of the border, 
and fourteen inches wide on the top. But previous to planting neat 
stakes are put into each mound long enough to reach the first wire 
on the trellis, and from the top of each stake to the top of the trellis 
thin strip of split bamboo cane is tied to each of the wires to make 
them firm for training the main stem of the plants to. After planting 
has been finished, earthenware collars, a foot in diameter and four inches 
deep, are slipped over the plants and pressed firmly in the soil encircling 
the stems, so that the person watering the borders — if careful — can do 
so without putting any water inside the collar, as the earth here is kept 
as dry as possible to prevent the plants from damping off at the base. 
To guard against water getting inside the collars when syringing the 
plants pieces of strong brown paper with slits in them to the centre 
to go round the stems are placed over the collars. This prevents any 
water getting inside of them, if the papers are removed as soon as 
syringing is finished. By adopting these simple means it is seldom, 
indeed, that the plant damps off at the neck, if it has been properly 
planted, and put no deeper in the borders than it was when growing in 
