I860.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
149 
How to Eaise Melons. 
Many persons at the North, especially Jthose 
who have a stiff and cold soil to deal with, com¬ 
plain that they can not raise melons. They have 
not the time or the means to grow them in hot- 
oeds, and in the open air their plants make only 
a feeble growth, aud produce a few half-ripened, 
puny melons just at the setting in of frost. 
Melons at Christmas are hardly to be desired, 
and we think they can be had before that time by 
several months. Our way is this : Early in May 
select a warm spot in the garden, dig holes four 
feet wide and eighteen inches deep, throwing 
aside the poorest of the bottom soil, bring in 
coarse sand and some leaf-mold from the 
woods, and a little old manure ; mix all thorough¬ 
ly together, adding about one fourth of good gar¬ 
den soil. Each hole, when finished, is raised 
from four to six inches above the surrounding 
surface. The seeds being planted, (and we take 
pains to secure good seed.) cover the hills with 
rough boxes, six inches high, and three feet 
square, and place over each a frame of glass or 
miliinet. This breaks off the cold wind, and 
keeps out the little black bug, and him with the 
striped jacket. Sometimes, we cover the ground 
around each hill with an inch or two of pulver¬ 
ized charcoal, and it absorbs the heat of the sun's 
rays, and makes the plants grow" rapidly. The 
frames should be taken off during the middle of 
hot days. When the plants have filled the boxes, 
they (the boxes) should be stored away under 
cover, and so can be made to last for several 
years. We have recently seen vine protectors, 
made by tacking miliinet upon four sharpened 
sticks of, say two feet in length, fastened together 
at the top by strips of leather, and spread at the 
bottom enough to cover the hills. These are very 
convenient, and can be folded and packed in a 
small compass to be laid away when not in use. 
The fruiting of the vines may be hastened con¬ 
siderably by nipping off the leading branches. 
Muskmelons produce their fruit at the axils of 
the first leaves of the lateral shoots. If the lead¬ 
ing branches are allowed to run, these laterals 
will not push out, until the branches have grown 
to a considerable length. Pinch off the leaders, 
then, as soon as they have made three or four 
leaves : this will give at least a week’s gain of 
time. And w’hen the bearing shoots have made 
three or four leaves beyond the fruit, nip them 
off likewise. 
A simpler mode than the foregoing, and one 
that sometimes succeeds, is to prepare the hills 
as already mentioned, plant the seeds, and lay 
down four bricks flatwise around the hill, and 
place over the space between a large pane of 
window glass. When the plants have reached 
the glass roof, set the bricks on edge, and lay on 
the glass again. By the time the plants have 
outgrown their quarters, they will be strong 
enough to defy the bugs and the open air. 
Let us not omit to say that manure should be 
placed not only in the hill, but should be spaded 
into the surface between the hills, to feed the 
plants when the roots have extended beyond. 
As to varieties : the Christiana is a fine early 
muskmelon ; the Green Citron, Skillman’s Net¬ 
ted, Fine Nutmeg, and Rock melon are good late 
sorts. Among watermelons the Black Span¬ 
ish and Mountain Sw'eet are superior sorts. 
Saving a waste corner —A friend, who makes 
the most of everything, once showed us a novel 
way of turning a waste place to account. In one 
corner of his small enclosure was an unsightly 
pile of stones and rubbish, which he could not at 
the time remove. He leveled it so as to support 
a tub made from a barrel sawed in halves. This 
was neatly painted, filled with good soil, and cu¬ 
cumbers planted in it. When the vines grew to 
need support, a horizontal frame of laths was 
carried out from the edges of the tub, upon 
which the runners soon extended and fruited 
quite full. It looked very pretty, the cucumbers 
were kept up from the ground, and he said were 
of better flavor, and thus the corner became a 
profit instead of a nuisance. 
- -—*•»—-<-«■- 
A Self-Acting Fountain. 
The fountain here represented, which is a 
modification of a foreign design, is intended for a 
hall or conservatory, for which it appears to be 
very well fitted, being neat, portable, and not ne¬ 
cessarily very expensive. As the name, “ Self¬ 
acting ” indicates, it does not require a living 
stream to feed it, and may therefore be used 
where such a supply is not obtainable. It has, how¬ 
ever, the disadvantage of operating but a short 
tinge without attention. The construction is 
easily understood by reference to the figure. A, 
is a glass or metal cylinder, say two feet long 
and nine or ten inches in diameter, made strong 
enough to bear a moderate pressure. B. A zinc 
stand, with a rabbet atjdie top-edge to receive the 
bottom of the glass cylinder. C. A bowl made 
of zinc to hold water, and rabbeted to receive the 
top of a glass cylinder, both top and bottom to be 
fixed firm to the glass cylinder with cement, and 
made both air and water tight. D. A loose zinc 
cover to hide brass top and valve, is made to 
slip over pipe E , and is pierced with holes, so that 
ornamental or fresh flowers may be placed there¬ 
in. E. A pipe one quarter of an inch in bore, 
with brass cock, the top end of pipe to be fined 
down to a hole about the size of a needle’s point, 
and to stand up about three inches above the top 
edge of C, and to be continued through the. bot¬ 
tom of C, into the cylinder A, to within about 
two inches of the bottom B. It must be made 
tight in the solder to the top C, where it goes 
through it. F. Another pipe similar in size to E, 
and carried down in like manner into cylinder A. 
This pipe, however, must be carried through the 
side and bottom of the bowl C; and between the 
place where the pipe enters the bottom and side 
of C, there must be placed a box, G, having 
a valve or clack opening inwards, so as to ad¬ 
mit water, and then close when in use. H. An 
| India rubber ball, with a neck to it, so as to faster. 
it to pipe F. This ball should be three or four 
inches in diameter. 
To make the fountain play : pour a quantity of 
water in howl C, and a portion will run down 
pipe F, through valve G; when it stops, com¬ 
mence working the ball, H, in the hand, by open¬ 
ing and shutting it; this forms a pump, and forces 
the water from bowl C into cylinder A. Let the 
top of the pipe E be shut in forcing the water in¬ 
to cylinder A ; it compresses the air in the upper 
part, and that forms the spring. When the ball 
If has been worked for a few seconds, open the 
top of pipe E, and you have a small but lively 
jet of water playing for about half an hour. 
The pipes in the cylinder A may be ornament¬ 
ed by fastening flowers or imitation plants round 
them ; and the bottom may be made rocky be¬ 
fore putting the apparatus together. 
Quilts and Quilting Frames. 
It looks like a waste of time to buy calico, cut 
it up into inch pieces, and spend the leisure even¬ 
ings of a whole Winter in sewing it togethei 
again in fantastic shapes, to make a bed-quilt, 
which, when finished, often looks like a failure 
to harmonize the chaos of a rag-bag. There may 
be economy in using remnants of cloth and part¬ 
ly worn garments in this way, and much taste 
may be displayed in the arrangement, but quilt- 
ting merely “ to make a spread ” in the manner 
first described, is not profitable industry. Making 
quilts of pieces otherwise wasted, is a good initia¬ 
tion into the mysteries of needle-work for the 
younger girls, and quilts not too thickly wadded, 
make very good bed-clothing Quilting parties, 
too, are very popular social gatherings, promotive 
of pleasant feeling among neighbors, and too fully 
Americanized to be easily abolished. Quilting 
frames, however, are generally voted a nuisance 
by the “ men folks.” As usually made, with four 
ten-feet strips, and set upon the backs of chairs, 
they monopolize ihe room occupied for ihe time, 
are easily overturned, and occasion much incon¬ 
venience. 
As many have by this time finished their 
patchwork for the season, we will try and aid 
them in completing the quilting by giving a plan 
of a very simple frame, occupying much less 
room than the ordinary kind. It was furnished 
for the Agriculturist by Isaac Evans, Crawford 
Co., HI. The ‘‘men folks” will no doubt be glad 
to make a set, both to please their better halves, 
and to abate the nuisance they complain of 
The end pieces are made only about four feet 
long with an open mortise let into each end to 
receive the rounded extremity of the side pieces. 
Holes are bored through at right angles with the 
mortises, to receive pins, with which to keep the 
“stretchers” or long side pieces in place, when the 
frame is in use. The long pieces may be of 
plank strips, left square, or better, worked eight- 
sided the whole length, with the ends rounded to 
turn easily in the mortises Holes are let through 
to receive the pins that pass through the mor¬ 
tises When wanted for use, the quilt is stitched 
to cloth strips fastened on the side pieces in the 
