574 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ December 30, 1888. 
influence another for good or evil. May all our footprints 
point in the right direction !” 
We have not quite printed the whole of the genial letter, 
that we feel sure will be welcome to our readers, but have 
reserved to ourselves the pleasure of joining in the last 
sentiment of the writer— 
A Happy New Year to All. 
EARLY MELONS. 
Where a choice dessert has to be produced for the London 
season these are indispensable, and are easily obtained from the 
middle of May onwards, but to be able to pack them off in the 
“ London hampei ” from the middle of April requires a little more 
forethought and trouble. This is nothing compared with the 
satisfaction of placing on the employer’s table fruit that is with 
difficulty obtained from the leading West End tradesmen, and as it 
is the business of these gentlemen to try and be first with any 
choice fruits, so it is that of the gardener not to be far behind them, 
or much of the credit is lost. Therefore to keep pace with the times 
the first batch should be started at once, and perhaps a few remarks 
at this season may not be out of place. 
We have made it the practice for some years to make the first 
sowing on Boxing Day, and it seems to come natural now to do so. 
The seeds are sown in pairs in thumb pots and placed in bottom 
heat. As soon as the seed leaf appears they are placed on a shelf 
as near the glass as possible, the object being to induce them to 
show the first rough leaf before becoming too tall. The thumbs 
contain sufficient soil till this occurs. The plants are then potted 
into 48’s, using soil the same temperature as the house—about 70°. 
In potting the stems should be carefully twisted round, so as to 
bring the seed leaf level with the rim, not dividing the ball. They 
are returned to the shelf, and what water is required is supplied by 
dipping the pot half its depth in tepid water, thus guarding against 
the danger of damping, as only that portion of the ball is moistened 
which contains the roots. 
About this time the beds are made up with fermenting material, 
chiefly litter and leaves, as high as convenient. If the house was 
well heated both top and bottom I should adopt this plan, as it not 
only enables us to keep the plants well up to the light, but the 
material throws off vapour charged with ammonia, which seems to 
strengthen the plants remarkably. Upon this the hillocks of soil 
are placed about 18 inches apart, and in the course of about ten 
days from the time of potting the planting can be done, care being 
taken to keep the ball intact, and still allowing the two plants to 
grow side by side. They are secured at once to neat stakes, or 
they are apt to roll on their sides when dewing them with the 
syringe. The chief thing now is to try and get as sturdy a growth 
is possible by keeping a uniform heat of 75° by day, allowing it to 
fall 5° at night. I find the plants come on much better by covering 
the house at night with a rick sheet; by this means the atmosphere 
is rendered more genial than would be the case when so much heat 
is required in the pipes to keep the heat up, especially in windy 
weather ; there is also a great saving in fuel. 
When the plants have attained about six or eight leaves the 
weakest should be cut away. The advantage of growing them in 
pairs up to this stage is easily seen. The young tender plants are 
very liable to accident, either from insects or other causes. When 
the plants have reached the wires, say 18 inches or 2 feet high, I 
find female blooms can be produced sooner by pinching out the lead, 
as they show on the pair of laterals which follows directly after 
this operation ; and I find, on referring to my notes of ten different 
seasons, I have been “ setting ” blooms as early as February 28th, 
and nearly every season from thirty to forty fruit were swelling 
by the 7th of March. As the female bloom is very valuable 
at this season, great care should be taken to get the pollen as dry 
as possible, as we have very little assistance from the sun in these 
short days. 
Respecting the best varieties, most gardeners have their fancies, 
but I have never found one to answer so well as Best of All. 
There may be better flavoured Melons, but the constitution of 
different varieties has to be studied, and I have found this one, 
when several others were growing by its side in a spindly manner, 
make shorter jointed wood, with well cupped leaves, and showing 
female blooms freely. By following this system we have always 
cut fruits by the middle of April, though I am not in favour of 
taking two crops off the same plants. I have several times cut 
good exhibition fruits again in June.— Richard Parker, Impney, 
Droitwich. 
NOTES ON CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
New or supposed new Chrysanthemums make their appearance 
in’such large numbers each year that it is at times rather bewilder¬ 
ing to know which varieties to grow the following season so that 
we may not be behind the times, and to an exhibitor this is imp ji - 
tant. It is impossible for almost any grower to burden himself 
with sorts that are not first-class. To growers not having the 
opportunity to judge for themselves by visiting the principal exhi¬ 
bitions in the metropolitan district, and depending upon catalogue 
descriptions entirely, it is no wonder that such persons are disap¬ 
pointed when flowering time comes. Catalogue descriptions to my 
mind are much too elaborate as a rule, the foreign ones particularly 
so. If more simple terms were used a great boon would be con¬ 
ferred upon growers of Chrysanthemums generally, which are a 
fast-increasing body, as shown by the increased number of exhi- 
bitions this season, also by the very strong competition in the 
various classes. For the information of those who have not had 
the opportunities of judging for themselves I have noted a few 
varieties which may be tried in the coming season. New incurved 
varieties are produced so" sparingly that any addition to this class 
is always looked forward to with keen interest. Unfortunately 
only two sorts have appeared which promise well. The first is the 
yellow sport from Princess Teck, raised by Mr. Mizen of Mitcham, 
and placed in the hands of Mr. N. Davis of Camberwell for distri¬ 
bution, which is named Mrs. Norman Davis. I consider it quite 
an acquisition. It is a bright orange yellow, and evidently pos¬ 
sesses in a marked degree the broad incurved florets of its parent. 
If it retain that format cannot fail to be of the highest order or 
merit, as yellows of this class are much needed, for at present there 
are only two—Jar din des Plantes and Mr. Bunn. The foimer 
variety cannot always be obtained in first-class form ; while the 
latter variety, being early, the best blooms are often over in the 
south of England before many of the shows. This new variety 
then will come in at a capital time. 
Lord Eversley is the other variety alluded to. This also is a 
sport from Princess Teck, white, having a faint tinge of cream on 
its florets, which are very smooth, even (if it is possible) incurving 
better than its parent. It originated at Heckfield with Mr. Wild- 
smith three years ago, and has preserved its character since. A 
first-class certificate was awarded for it this year at the Reading 
Show, where it was much admired. It is certainly a grand late 
variety, and for producing flowers for late use is capital. 
Bronze Queen of England has been disappointing this season, 
probably owing to over-propagation ; but it should not be discarded 
without another trial for the reason above stated, and also that all 
the Queen type have this season shown a strong tendency to reflex 
their florets instead of incurve. 
New Japanese varieties have this season appeared in large 
numbers and of variable quality. To a grower of new varieties 
this is not the least interesting part of the business. Much interest 
is attached to watching new varieties develope. Amongst seed¬ 
lings large numbers are worthless, and it is right they should be, 
or I do not know what we should do with all that are grown. 
There is such a craving for novelties, particularly when they are 
improvements upon older varieties. The following sorts are all 
worthy of a trial in the coming season. The best variety of the 
year in the Japanese section is undoubtedly the new yellow sport 
from Meg Merrilies raised by Mr. T. Winkworth, Childwall Hall 
Gardens, Liverpool, and named Mr. Ralph Brocklebank. Having 
had an opportunity of inspecting it and its parent last year when 
the sport just appeared, I was much struck with its appearance, 
and I predicted for it a success should it become fixed. This has 
been successfully accomplished by Mr. Winkworth, who will no 
doubt in due course allow the public an opportunity of growing 
this charming variety. It is said to be of a better constitution 
even than its parent, not being so liable to damp. In character of 
the flower it is the counterpart of the part except in colour, which 
is a soft yellow or deep primrose. . 
Edouard Audiguier is a very promising variety, the colour being 
quite new—namely, a deep purple maroon. The reverse of the 
petals being silvery gives it quite a distinct appearance, and being 
of large size it should be valuable as an exhibition flower. This is 
in the hands of Mr. Davis.—E. Moly^neux. 
(To be continued.) 
WATERTIGHT ASHPITS. 
I OMITTED stating in my last communication on this subject that 1 
keep my ashpits flooded with water, but seeing that they have not been 
made specially for that purpose, the quantity put in at “banking-up” 
time evaporates long before morning. I have no hesitation in stating 
that the advantage secured by employing steam, or water vapour mixed 
with air, will more than compensate for the rusting of the bars by the 
amount of hydrogen it supplies, and at the same time facilitating the 
combustion of the fuel. Mr. Burton seems to doubt the fact that red 
hot iron is oxidised by water and steam. He says, “ It is contrary to the 
natural theory of metal oxidation, which does not take place with hot 
