228 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 10, 1860. 
unusual cold, and so the weak and partially blanched plant 
shrinks from the same amount of sunshine which makes its 
hardier companion rejoice. 
Ventilation is of much consequence and requires great attention. 
It should be given a little earlier than actually required, and taken 
away early in the afternoon. Neglect in this respect often causes 
injury to the foliage when the early sun comes strongly upon it 
before it becomes dry. 
Tho soil for the Melon should be a strong unctuous loam 
mixed with a small proportion of rotten dung. It should not bo 
sifted, but merely chopped into moderate-sized lumps. It is im¬ 
portant that it should be made firm when put into the frame, 
and for this it should be well trodden in. 
An important improvement has been made in tho flavour of 
the Scarlet-fleslied Melon, as exemplified in Turner's Scarlet 
Gem Melon, the very best Scarlet-fleshed extant. Rut still we 
think this inferior to'the Grccn-fleshed kinds. AVe much prefer 
the gelatinous flesh of the one which ono can eat with a spoon, 
to the hard substance of the other, however piquant its flavour, 
requiring the knife. 
Like all other good fruits, the Melon is not exempt from insect 
enemies. The red spider and the woodlouse are its worst de- I 
predators. The ravages of the former are too well known to need 
description; and the latter, although not an omnipresent ma¬ 
rauder, is a very general intruder, eating holes into the finest and 
best of the fruit, and thus blasting the hopes of the cultivator 
just at tho point of consummation. 
Every process which induces luxuriance is inimical to insect 
life; and it is a fact requiring little observation, that those plants 
whose growth is weakly are always more or less a prey to insects. 
In the case of red spider syringing is a capital remedy, and we 
recommend its almost constant practice as a great promoter of 
growth, and a powerful deterrer of insects. 
AVe have hinted at the advantages of getting a general and 
continuous heat for Melons. Our mode of doing this is by accu¬ 
mulating a large body of Oak and Beech leaves in a pit five feet 
in depth. The bed is built two feet six inches above the surface, 
making-its total depth seven feet six inches. Such a bed will 
keep a moderate heat very often for two years. By the use of 
dung for beds you get a very great heat at first, which subsides j 
into perfect coldness and rottenness. But the leaves heat less 
violently at first, and arc much more enduring. They are, there¬ 
fore, the most preferable material for hotbeds where plentiful. 
Nor must we forget the invaluable residuum which they yield 
when decayed in the shape of leaf mould—one of the most valu¬ 
able and important soils which the gardener employs. 
Let our friends of The Cottage Gardener remember to 
cherish their leaves, and save them on all occasions for furnishing 
mould for potting their various plants, and mixing in with other ; 
composts. H. Bailey, Nuneham. 
"---V 
TOBACCO-PAPER A REMEDY AGAINST GREEN 
ELY ON CUCUMBERS AND MELONS. 
Observing in your periodical of the 5th idt. that an “ Irish 
Subscriber ” recommends fumigation for the destruction of the ] 
green fly, which often infests Cucumbers and Melons, I may here 
state that I have tried it a few years ago; but, to my surprise 
and loss, soon found my plants dead ; the smoking, I conjecture, 
being too powerful for them. 
1 have since discovered a milder remedy, which is to place 
tobacco-paper in layers beneath the leaves. This has such an 
effect upon the insects above, that it causes instant death, and, j 
as a consequence, a relief to the plant of this nuisance.— Tudor. 
IS THE PROEESSION OE A GARDENER A 
HEALTHY ONE? 
Were I to ask the question of twenty individuals whether 
they considered the profession of a gardener conducive to health 
and longevity, the reply of nineteen would be undoubtedly an 
unqualified affirmative ; and, therefore, it ia a somewhat bold 
step for a non-medical man to take to presume to question the 
decided opinion of so vast a majority ; but whether it may be that 
my experience—which certainly has not been very extensive-—has 
been unfortunate, or my observations not very astute, I certainly 
have for some time felt a strong conviction that the popular 
opinion as to immunity from disease and suffering generally 
attributed to the delightful and interesting profession of horti¬ 
cultural pursuits, has at all events been overrated. 
Now, I should be very sorry indeed to discourage the young 
gardener when about to enter the ranks of the “blue aprons,” as 
our valued and humorous friend Mr. Beaton has designated 
the cratt; but I could earnestly warn him from depending too 
much upon the popidar notion that disease and sickness aro 
enemies unknown to the man whose employment is almost wholly 
out of doors when he imbibes the genial and fresh breezes as they 
fan the leaves and waft the perfume of his favourite Rose, scatter¬ 
ing the refreshing fragrance of the Mignonette and Sweet Brier 
to every secluded nook of his neat parterre. What 1 wish to 
impress upon him is not to defer taking wise precautionary means 
to insure him assistance in case of sickness, and means of inter¬ 
ment at his decease without pressing upon his friends, who may 
probably be unable or unwilling to aid when such aid is in¬ 
dispensable, and from seeking which every honest and right- 
minded gardener would instinctively shrink with feelings of 
abhorrence. 
To support my opinion I might mention the cases of ill health 
of gardeners which have come under my own more immediate 
notice. One, a man of robust and powerful frame, has been 
twice laid by fora considerable period in consequence of attacks of 
acute rheumatism, induced, as his medical men tell him, by sudden 
exposure to the cold after working in the vinery. Another that 
I knew well has been compelled to quit the employment alto¬ 
gether from inflammation on the lungs, entirely arising from the 
same cause. A third has been cut off in the very prime and 
vigour of life by typhus fever; and the fourth, my own valued and 
regretted gardener, who has just been consigned to the tomb, 
aged 40 years, after nearly twelve months of total deprivation of 
speech, and the entire loss of the use of one side through paralysis, 
brought on, I believe, from working in the hot sun, being a man 
of full habit of body. His case, indeed, was melancholy and 
impressive—one day in robust health and strength, and on the 
next speechless and hopelessly crippled, though retaining full 
possession of his other faculties, thus presenting one of the most 
sad and distressing instances of the uncertainty of human stability 
I have ever known. Happily for him,he was a member of a respect¬ 
able provident society, which paid him 105. per week during his 
long illness—an illness the monotony of which was only relieved 
by his sitting at his bedroom window watching, no doubt with 
melancholy interest, the work of his successor cultivating the 
ground and superintending the plants and flowers which had 
long been his pride and pleasure. If of any man’s health and 
longevity I could have been almost morally certain, surely it 
was his. 
Such is my experience of the few gardeners whom I have 
best known ; and surely there is enough in their history to 
arrest the attention of the most careless, and to bid him ask 
himself when sickness should come, “Am I prepared both 
spiritually and temporally to meet its attacks?” I would 
strongly recommend all gardeners, if possible, to avoid all friendly 
societies which are held at public houses—those wretched esta¬ 
blishments, the bane and ruin of half the artizans of the British 
empire. I have now before me the annual statement of a society 
which is in its twenty-fourth year, and has a balance in hand of 
upwards of £1000, the success of which is, I believe, principally 
attributable to the fact, that one of its chief rules is, “ on no 
account shall any meeting be held at a public house.” It was 
commenced by tho clergyman of this parish, and is worthy of 
imitation by all incumbents of livings—good rules, safe calcula¬ 
tions, and trustworthy officers being the only requisites for its 
success and stability.— The Cottage Gardener’s Friend. 
[Wc commend this to the attention of our readers, not only 
beeauso it contains the thoughts of one who is wise both for time 
and eternity, but because the thoughts are upon truths which 
every gardener should regard and obey. 
AVe do not think that the occupation of a gardener is un¬ 
healthy, though carelessness may render it productive of acute 
diseases. It certainly does not shorten life—Parkinson lived 
about 78 years j Switzer, 80; Bobart, 85 ; Knowlton, gardener 
to Lord Burlington, 90 ; Miller, 80; Speechly, 86 ; James Dick¬ 
son, 89; and Abercrombie, 80. Nor are these the exceptions; 
for if we refer to the lists of candidates for the pensions of the 
Gardeners’ Benevolent Society we shall rarely find one of those 
candidates of a less age than Q5, and a majority of them 70 and 
upwards. This usual length of life is an additional argument 
enforcing the wisdom of our correspondent’s recommendation to 
provide for “ the comforts of old age.” There are in old age 
