186 
THE AMATElTll’s KITCHEN GARDEN. 
generous treatment than is usually prescribed, for melons are- 
thirsty, and will be cleaner and more robust if regularly 
syringed overhead, and kept nicely moist at the root by regu- 
lar watering of the hillocks. They will not endure the degree 
of humidity that cucumbers enjoy ; but they are often kept 
too dry, and become the prey of various insect plagues in con- 
sequence. As to ventilating, that must be to some extent 
regulated by the heat of the bed and the state of the weather ; 
but as the plants cannot be kept in health without plenty of 
air, it is desirable to ventilate as freely as possible — consistent 
with maintaining a proper temperature. With this in view,, 
the cultivator will take care to have heat enough to render 
air-giving both safe and desirable. In many cases the dry 
system is adopted because free watering has been found to pro- 
mote canker and damping at the collar. But if the drainage of 
the hills is secured in the first instance, by a foundation of 
rubble, and soft tepid water is always employed, and the 
bottom-heat is right, melons will enjoy more moisture than 
they usually obtain, and in return for it will give heavier crops 
and finer fruit. 
The plants must be allowed to spread until they reach within 
six inches of the side of the frame, and then the point of every 
shoot must be pinched out. It may be remembered, however, 
that if they are never stopped at all, they will just as surely 
fruit, but judicious stopping causes a more plentiful produc- 
tion and more equal distribution of those secondary shoots on 
which the fruit is produced. It is customary to “set” the 
female flowers with farina from the males, but we have always 
found the crop to be as good in a bed where we never “ set” a 
single flower, as in one that was most punctually and carefully 
attended to. We give the bees the credit of taking this task 
off our hands, for they are assiduous workers amongst melons 
and cucumbers. 
In due time the fruit will appear, and the cultivator must 
have the courage to refuse nature’s generous offer of many 
more fruits than the plant can ripen properly. As soon as a 
fair crop is set, persist in suppressing the flowers as they appear, 
and stop every fruit-bearing shoot at about four eyes beyond 
the fruit. And what is a fair crop ? it may be asked. A 
large sort, such as Beechwood, may be allowed to carry half-a- 
dozen fruit, and a smaller sort, such as Scarlet Gem, may 
carry nine. 
