THE AMATEUii’s KITCHEN GARDEN. 
185 
little water, and keep rather close and shaded until the plants 
make a start, and show their free growth that they are 
well established. They are earthed-up as they advance, and 
thus the hills advance with the plants. It is no wonder that 
when the plants are raised in pots and treated subsequently 
as now described, they are frequently assailed with fly and 
spider, and give the cultivator incessant trouble to keep them 
clean and healthy. Our method is to, make up good-sized 
hills in the first instance, using two barrows of soil, at least, , 
to each, and shut up the frames for a few days ; by this time 
the hills will be nicely warmed. Then we consider if the heat 
is too strong, and if it is we subdue it by ventilating, and 
very soon the bed is ready for the plants. We now lift them 
carefully with a trowel, and plant only one to each light, in 
the centre of the hillock, which is raised so as to bring the 
plant very close to the glass. If carefully handled, and aided 
with the syringe, and kept as close as possible, without allow- 
ing the heat to rise above 90°, they take hold of their new 
position at once, and make a splendid start, and thereafter 
give very little trouble ; for fly and spider have no relish for 
plants so treated. 
The Proper Soil is a matter of some importance. The 
melon will not thrive in a light soil, and it is not well to in- 
corporate with the compost any considerable proportion of 
manure ; the top spit of a pasture, where the staple is a stiff 
brown loam, will answer admirably ; but it should be laid up 
some time previously, to get rid of tipula grubs and wire- 
worms, and to rot the fibre in some degree. Three parts of 
such soil, well chopped up with one part of well-rotted hot- 
bed manure, will form a good compost, and in planting it will 
be well to fill in round the root with a mixture of fine soil — 
say equal parts of turfy loam, leaf-mould, and rotten manure, 
to coax the roots into immediate action. 
The Summer Culture is simple enough, but the attentions 
requisite must be regularly given, or disappointment of some 
sort will be sure to occur. In the first place there should be 
no shading from first to last, except when the plants are first 
put out, and even then it will only be necessary if the weather 
happens to be very bright, in which case two or three rhubarb 
leaves may be laid on the glass, for a few hours every day, to 
mitigate the fervour of the sun’s rays. As to watering, we 
must differ from the books again, in recommending a "more 
