CULTIVATION OF THE MELON. 



89 



to the consumer and credit to the grower. And if in this paper 

 I am unable to introduce anything new about the cultivation of 

 Melons, I can at least explain the means I have myself used 

 during upwards of forty years' practice, and which, though not 

 without failures, have had a very fair amount of success. 



There are a great many varieties of Melons in cultivation, and 

 new ones are produced every year, some being held in high esteem 

 for perhaps ten or a dozen years, when they are gradually dis- 

 placed by others. One reason for this is, that the blossoms being 

 so easily cross-fertilised, they require the very greatest care to 

 keep them true ; and even within my own recollection, those 

 which were considered the most popular sorts, such as Beech- 

 wood and Egyptian Green-flesh, are now little known even by 

 name. 



The season for Melons extends from the end of April till the 

 end of October ; they may be had later, but the fruit will be 

 very inferior in flavour to those ripened when the days were long 

 and the sun powerful, and they are always better in a bright 

 summer than in a dull one. 



In preparing for cultivation, the first thing to be considered 

 is the soil in which they are to be grown. The most suitable for 

 the purpose is rich stiff loam, got if possible from an old pasture 

 where sheep or deer have been grazed ; it should be dug six 

 months before it is wanted, and stacked up to be made friable by 

 the action of the weather. Such a soil will not require any 

 manure mixed with it (manure applied in a liquid state answers 

 best for Melons) ; but if only very light loam can be had, a fourth 

 part of clay cut very fine may be mixed with it. Plants raised 

 from seeds a few years old will be found to be shorter-jointed 

 and to fruit more freely than those raised from new ones. A 

 very successful grower, under whom I was employed nearly half 

 a century ago, liked to keep his Melon seeds from five to seven 

 years before sowing them. In those days, and even much later, 

 when Melons were mostly grown on beds of leaves and stable- 

 manure, a great deal more labour was required than ab the 

 present time with properly constructed pits and houses, in which 

 it is an easy matter to maintain a suitable temperature at all 

 times. If fruit is wanted early, seed should be sown as soon as 

 the new year comes in. Use 3-inch pots, one seed in each ; 

 and light loam with a little leaf -mould, well warmed and rather 



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