4S 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 22 . 
and grand. Rocky precipices stand like perpendicular walls 
from 200 feet to 300 feet in height, over which roll the 
waters from the melting snows, which appear to the eye like 
lines of silver. Sometimes these waters rush down with 
such force, that rocks of many tons in weight are precipi¬ 
tated from their lofty stations to the depth of 2000 feet. In 
the forest below everything appears calm and tranquil; 
scarcely the sound of an animal is heard ; sometimes a few 
butterflies and beetles meet the eye, but not a house or 
human being is seen. On the sandy tracts near the rivers 
the lion or puma is frequently to be met with, but this 
animal is perfectly harmless if not attacked.” 
D. Beaton. 
MELONS. 
The management of the melon-frame is one of the 
very nicest points of gardening. Talk about pines: 
melons are by far more difficult to obtain with certainty 
in the highest perfection. This plant is by nature 
highly sensitive to injuries, to say nothing of neglect or 
omissions. Thus, no man can obtain first-rate melons if 
insects ravage their leaves. High-flavoured and deep- 
fleshed melons must not be looked for, unless the prin¬ 
cipal leaves are fresh when the fruit is ripening ; and 
where we meet witli one frame or pit with the leaves in 
a flourishing condition at ripening time, we shall find 
half-a-dozen that are in some degree blemished. 
Now, how to preserve the melon plants in this fine 
and healthy condition, up to the period of ripening, is 
the pivot on which nearly the whole of successful cul¬ 
ture must he based. There are two antagonists to health 
that we would especially guard the beginner against; 
the one insects, the other a sudden declension of bottom 
warmth. Thrips and the red spider are the giants of 
the former, and, like most other gardening evils, the 
being impelled to have recourse to curative measures 
argues a previous neglect. It becomes every one, there¬ 
fore, to use preventive means, which we will shortly 
explain. 
As to bottom heat declining ; we know those who 
have argued that there is no necessity for being so 
particular about its declension after the fruit has com¬ 
pleted its last swelling; but what nonsense is this? 
Admitting the necessity of good foliage to the end of the 
chapter, by what means is good foliage sustained ? The 
absence of insects is not enough, per se, to accomplish 
this : the leaves must constantly receive a fresh supply 
of juices from the root; a supply at least equal to the 
demands on the leaf through the agency of perspiration. 
If any one doubts the necessity of an unremitting sup¬ 
ply of this new blood, let him just take a melon plant 
in a pot, and place it under a close glass containing a 
humid atmosphere; immediately passing a sharp knife 
beneath, and cutting off most of the roots. He can then 
shade the glass carefully; in fact, do all he can to pre¬ 
vent loss by transpiration, and yet shall the plant 
speedily droop, not through loss of the foliage, but for 
lack of this new blood. Any serious depression, then, of 
the bottom warmth, has a tendency the same way; it in¬ 
duces a torpidity of root, every hour’s continuance of 
which is, in degree, fatal to size, high-flavour, and deep 
melting flesh. 
We have known a novice boast that he could produce 
splendid melons entirely without bottom heat, and when 
his caso was looked into, it was found that the melons 
were not sown until the middle of April, that they were 
planted on a bed made in the spring, of fermenting 
materials, for other purposes; and that his dilapidated 
frame had the singular merit of possessing self-ventila¬ 
ting properties: thus ensuring a top-heat somewhat 
lower, on an average, than the soil they grew in. So that 
here were three concurrent causes of success ; a body of 
material capable of still maintaining a slight fermenta¬ 
tive action, enhanced by the atmospheric heats of July 
and August; a frame that would not permit the blunder¬ 
ing manager to indulge in a top-heat, superior on the 
average to that of the bottom; added to which, that 
portion of summer which is of all others adapted to the 
proceeding. And all this was taken as complete evidence 
that bottom heat was all a fuss—so much for jumping at 
conclusions; and we merely name it to caution our 
younger readers against the danger of drawing false con¬ 
clusions, for assuredly nothing is more common. 
And now to an epitome of melon culture; first ob¬ 
serving that the middle of April is a capital time for the 
amateur, who can only indulge in a frame or two, to 
carry out his views. He may thus secure first-rate | 
melons from the end of July to the middle or end of Sep- j 
tember. If he desires them in October, he must sow in 
the second week of May, but he must count on some 
good hot dung to warm liis frame with, from the middle 
of September. 
As to soil, bed building, &c., Mr. Robson has already 
settled that part of the question ; proceed we to the sub¬ 
sequent culture. The young plants having been pro¬ 
perly reared, and having each two good shoots con¬ 
sequent on a stopping previously practised, one may be 
trained towards each angle of the frame or pit. Thus : 
—supposing two plants in a hill, which is good practice, 
and those on a hillock in the centre of the bed, there 
will be one shoot, and one only, towards each angle of 
each light. Hence, the general appearance of the frame 
before the runners shoot forth will be that of a cross. 
And now the plants, if healthy, will soon want to put 
forth more leaders , hut this cannot be allowed. It is a 
well known fact, that the further melon shoots extend 
from the stem, the more fruitful are their laterals. All 
barren looking laterals which spring from the root end 
of the leaders, should be pinched away as soon as pro¬ 
duced. The leading shoots having extended nearly to 
the angles of the frame, must be pinched, and shortly 
after they will develop laterals, the very first or second 
joint of which will display a perfect female blossom. If 
they do not, hut still ramble in barren shoots, be sure 
that they have been maltreated. 
Setting is the next consideration; that is to say, im¬ 
pregnating the blossoms, and to accomplish this, a high 
temperature is requisite,—say 80 s to 90°. Every female 
blossom must be thus waited on daily until a good crop 
is set, and as large as pigeon’s eggs, when all remaining 
blossoms, both male and female, may be pinched away. 
And now, henceforward, an almost daily care must be 
exercised in keeping down all laterals which have no 
connection with the fruit. It ought to have been before 
observed, that every lateral on which a fruit is set 
should be pinched at about two or three joints beyond 
the fruit. A little new growth may be occasionally 
encouraged on such afterwards, but no rambling; as 
soon as any new growth has produced three or four 
joints, let it be pinched again. Henceforth, as to the 
foliage, the object is to expose as much leaf-surface to 
the light as possible, especially the original or principal 
leaves. These should never be shaded, whilst healthy, 
under any pretext; if, however, any of them unluckily 
fail, the next best on the same shoot must have similar 
care, and so on to the end. 
The next consideration is moisture , whether of root 
or atmosphere. Many pros and cons have been used 
by writers in their advocacy of certain soils. Now, as 
we take it, the pith of the matter is thisOur climate 
is fitful; sometimes we have what is called a wet and 
dull summer, and such the melon abhors. Even in 
such seasons, the melon requires some root watering; 
and moistening the volume of the soil perforce, occa¬ 
sions overmuch dampness in the air of the frame, in 
such seasons for many days afterwards. Well, then, 
any soil which will endure a long while without the 
I application of water is peculiarly adapted to dull periods, , 
