the striped housainee melon. 
99 
(sun-light) is indispensable for the healthy progress of this melon. 
Its leaves are immensely large, and the upper surface of each ought 
to enjoy a full exposure to the rays. Those under shadow are ren¬ 
dered incapable of elaborating the sap, and consequently, of effecting 
those electric-chemical changes, which the direct rays occasion, per¬ 
haps in a great degree by their own fixation and partial decomposi¬ 
tion. The leaves also are liable to injury from those sudden spring 
frosts that, in the absence of fire, might even form an icy scale upon 
the glass; therefore a distance of twelve inches at the least, below it, 
ought to be provided for; and to admit of this distance, the height 
of the back walk should be about nine feet, with the slope of the 
lights amounting to an angle of thirty degrees. I must here refer 
the reader to a description of Mr. Knight’s melon-house for the cul¬ 
tivation of the Persian tribe, given at vol. 1, p.263 and 302 of the 
Register. My pit presented only an expedient, attended with the 
following disadvantages. It was too low, and was not so constructed 
as to admit currents of air without letting down the lights : it 
had not a flue in front to create a full and equable diffusion 
of heated air; and finally, it did not enjoy a full southern expo¬ 
sure. The results were, therefore, a too tardy progress on the 
growth of the herb, and in the ripening of the fruit; the plants 
also were far too crowded and confined. Nevertheless I produced 
fine and excellent fruit. They, therefore, who wish to experimentise 
even with defective machinery, may do so with considerable confi¬ 
dence, and thus the public may by degrees acquire some knowledge 
of, and begin to estimate a noble fruit, of which, even the fruiterers 
are as yet in a state of all but ignorance. After these preliminary 
remarks I proceed to the 
PARTICULARS OF THE CULTURE. 
♦ 
Sowing —March lltli, 1832. The seeds were sown in small 
pots, (48th size) that were previously netted with hay, in order to 
secure the removal of an entire ball. Upon this hay the soil was 
placed; it was a rich, sandy, and adhesive loam, and a single seed 
was set in each pot, half an inch below the surface; the pots were 
then plunged to their rims in the leaves. It will be borne in mind, 
hat these produced no bottom heat , compared with that of a dung 
hot-bed ; they served merely to raise and keep up the temperature of 
the soil to a point just above the average heat of the air of the house. 
Transplanting into large Pols .—April 9th. The most forward 
plant was on this day removed to its fruiting pot; I propose to con¬ 
fine my future observations to this subject only, to avoid confusion. 
The plant was three or four inches high, and had developed several 
ii 3 
