124 JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
they swell for a little, then turn yellow, and are cut off, but this does not 
interfere with the crop in the least. The plants on an average mature 
from six to eight large fruits each the first crop ; and I have had strong 
healthy plants ripen as many as nine fruits the second crop, well finished 
fruits, from 4 lb. to 61b. each, which some judges of Melons consider 
large enough. 
When the fruits have grown to the size of Cocoanuts they are sup- 
ported from the trellis by pieces of flat wooden boards, five inches square, 
^\ith holes in the centre, which allow any water that collects on them 
after the plants are syringed to run off. The boards have a piece of 
strong copper wire fastened at each corner, and when the fruit is placed 
on them the wires are secured to the trellis in a position that enables the 
fruit to swell away without coming in contact with it. This system of 
supporting the fruits has the great advantage of allowing them to be 
easily lowered or raised as occasion requires without giving much trouble. 
During the time the fruits are swelling the plants are liberally supplied 
with artificial manures, and liquid manure from the cow-house. 
Thomson's Manure and Clay's Fertiliser are spread on the surface of 
the border in a dry state and w^atered in, and the liquid manure from the 
cow-house is diluted with water. The borders are lightly top-dressed 
wdth sifted loam and leaf-mould two or three times during the season to 
cover the young tender roots which mat the surface and are exposed to 
too much light and air. The plants are gently syringed once a day — 
early in the afternoon when the houses are shut up — but the paths in 
hot weather are damped down several times during the day, and a moist 
growing atmosphere maintained, which accelerates the swelling of the 
fruits and keeps the foliage clean and healthy. Plants treated in this 
way are seldom injured by red spider or' other insects. Whenever any 
of the leaves have finished their functions and assumed a yellow colour 
they are cut off close to the stem, or branch, with a sharp knife, and a 
pinch of slacked lime put on the wound, which dries up immediately. 
When thinning out superfluous branches they are treated in the same 
way to prevent bleeding. 
As the fruits advance towards maturity the atmosphere is kept drier 
and more buoyant, but the plants are watered at the root the same as 
before, and the borders are never allowed to approach to dryness. If the 
weather is warm and genial at this time a little air is left on the house 
during the night, which thickens and strengthens the foliage and in- 
vigorates the whole plant. 
With strong, healthy plants there is no difficulty in getting them to 
produce a second crop, and in much less time than would be the case if 
young plants were employed. I find from experience that after a fruit 
has grown to a certain stage — some weeks before it ripens — it does not 
absorb much nutriment from the plant, and I have often had plants set a 
second crop of fruit before the first was all ripened. Directly after the 
crop has been gathered the plants are gone over and the useless growths 
cut out, the borders top-dressed, and the house kept a little closer, and 
the atmosphere a little moister than it was when the fruit was ripening 
to encourage new growth. In a short time the plants respond to this 
treatment, and produce healthy growths with plenty of female flowers, 
