102 
THE STRIPED HOUSIANEE MELON. 
face, or the leaves began to droop : the temperature was about that 
of the average of the house, 70 to 75 degrees. Liquid manure from 
steeped sheep or poultry dung, was given to the extent of a quart or 
more, once or twice a week. To prepare this liquid, put into a three 
gallon tub about one-fourth of its content of recent dung; add a gal¬ 
lon of scalding water, and mash the mass till the lumps be broken 
up; then fill the tub with cold rain water. Stir the mixture tho¬ 
roughly twice, and let it settle : the clear supernatant liquor only, 
is to be used. If this became very fetid, a few grains of good pow¬ 
dered chloride of lime, added to each quart, will bean effectual reme¬ 
dy. While on the subject of watering, I must observe, that when 
melons are grown in pots, the soil must be kept moist till the fruit 
gives evidence of approaching to maturity; then, the quantity of wa¬ 
ter must be greatly abated. Mr. Knight cultivates his Persian me¬ 
lons in lprge pots, the internal dimensions of which, are about six¬ 
teen inches in depth, and seventeen inches in width at the top; yet 
he keeps the soil moist to the bottom. My melons were planted out 
into pots greatly too small to support their growth, as I discovered 
by observing, that the roots ramified far and wide among the leaves 
of the bed; and that a jffant in a pot, which was not plunged, could 
scarcely be kept alive. If the striped Housainee be grown on dung 
beds, and the soil be very firm and clayey, it may, as was remarked 
by the conductors of the Horticultural Register, vol. 1, page 164, 
produce very fine fruit without waterings; but in pots, whether the 
soil be rich and light, or firm and heavy, the plants must be liberal¬ 
ly watered, or they will fail. 
Rich liquid manure continually supplied to a soil originally im¬ 
pregnated with decomposable, vegetable, and annual substances, 
must be a succedaneum for space. In the native country of this 
fruit, a liberal quantity of water at the sub-stratum, under the rich 
beds of earth, amply supplied with doves’ dung, has been provided 
for by the Persian gardener for ages past. The Encyclopedia of 
Gardening, page 100, No. 466, observes:—Doves’ dung is in great 
request in Persia and Syria, for the culture of melons. Large pi¬ 
geon-houses are built in many places, expressly to collect it. The 
melon is now, as it was 2500 years ago, one of the necessaries of life; 
and when the Prophet Isaiah meant to convey an idea of a famine, 
he predicted that a cab of doves’ dung would be sold for a shekel of 
silver—about half-a-crown. 
Persia is an extremely hot climate, but the cold during the nights 
is, in many parts very severe, and the deivs consequently very abun¬ 
dant. This fact will justify the practice of keeping up in our pine 
