FEBRUARY. 
89 
MELONS IN POTS. 
Vines are now grown in pots yearly by the hundred, and so are 
Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Apricots, Cherries, and Figs; for several 
years past I have grown my early and late Melons in pots, by which 
plan I can secure the crop earlier and with less risk than % the planting 
out system, which is that generally practised; for when one or two plants 
are turned out under a light, should any accident happen during their 
growth, you can hardly replace them; and the difficulty of keeping up 
a uniform bottom heat early in the season, unless by hot-water pipes 
(which are not at every gardener’s command) is a serious objection 
to early Melon culture, and even had I hot water for bottom heat, 
I would grow the first and the last crops in pots. 
It is considered by some gardeners that to grow the Melon to a first- 
rate size, a large border for the roots and space for the Vines to ramble in 
are necessary; my experience does not confirm this, for I can produce 
more and finer fruit per light when my plants are in pots than when 
growing in a border the size of the pit or frame, as I have repeatedly 
proved. The crop usually taken from each ordinary frame or pit light 
is from four to six fruits, according to the size of the sash, which 
generally runs from 6 to 8 feet long by 3 feet 6 inches wide. Now 
under each sash as above I plunge from five to eight pots, each to 
contain one plant. I train the Vines to a trellis, 12 inches clear from 
the glass, for the first crop, and 18 inches for the latter. The pots I 
use are deep 14-inch pots, and the soil pure loam from well-rotted top 
spit earth, as heavy as I can procure, and made tolerably firm. I allow 
a distance of 12 inches between the surface of the pots and the trellis, 
so that the bed of leaves in which the pots are plunged is 2 feet from 
the glass; or rather we make it so that it will settle down to that 
distance, which will be the case by the time the plants have grown 
sufficiently high to take to the trellis, which being moveable is not 
placed in the frame till the plants have grown 12 or 14 inches. 
After the holes are made to receive the pots, three or four spades 
full of loam are placed in the bottom of the hole on which the 
pots are to stand. To prevent the soil from choking up the drainage, 
* I place each pot on two brick-bats. I find the supply of loam below 
the pots of the greatest use, it quickly becomes 'filled with roots, which 
penetrate through the drainage holes of the pots, and as it is always 
of a uniform warmth, it materially assists the swelling fruits. When the 
soil in the pots has become warmed, the plants are transferred to them, 
and tied up, without stopping, to the height of 12 or 14 inches (as 
above noticed) ; by having the pots plunged, the bottom heat can be 
nicely regulated. I have, at times, removed a portion of it when the 
plants have grown considerably, and replaced it with hot leaves, mixed 
with tan. I find also, that by having a clear two feet inside, I can 
maintain a higher top heat, even with dung linings, than when the bed 
is made up near the glass—no small advantage during the cold weather 
of April, when working with dung. 
When the trellis is placed in the frame, and the plants are tied to 
it, they are stopped, and will break at two or three joints, each lateral 
showing fruit at the third or fourth joint; when these appear, the Vine 
