MARCH. 
49 
autumn ; and now, thinking that it would be an act of vandalism to cut away 
all this luxuriant growth, which under the ordinary mode of pruning I should 
have done, I have, instead, adopted the plan so strongly recommended by Mr. 
Perry some time since in the Florist and Pomologist, of pegging down, 
having first taken out the smallest shoots, and taken a few inches off the tops 
of the stronger ones as the case might require. Judging by present appearances, 
I may anticipate a large display of bloom during the ensuing season, super¬ 
induced by this method of treatment. 
Poses are by no means difficult to strike, especially where a little ordinary 
care and forethought are used. Almost every Pose-grower has his own par¬ 
ticular plan ; mine is as follows: Early in November, when the plant has shed 
its leaves, and the wood is well ripened, I take off for cuttings what wood can 
be spared without absolutely pruning the tree ; it is cut into lengths of about 
,6 inches, carefully named, and the cuttings are inserted almost as thickly as 
possible in an old frame in which a compost of road grit and mould has been 
placed. Bury the cuttings about half their length in the compost, take care to 
keep them as close to the glass as possible, and throw a mat over this in severe 
weather, but when fine and mild give them all the air possible ; this will 
help to mature the wood, and assist in callusing. By the beginning of March 
it will be found that the majority of the cuttings will have done so. At this 
time take advantage of open weather, and transfer the whole to some well- 
prepared ground in a sunny situation. Stretching a line, make a cut with the 
spade by its side, half fill up the shallow trench thus formed with sand or road 
grit, place the cuttings about 6 inches apart in the drills, 12 inches from row 
to row, tread them firmly in, make all neat, and then leave them to their fate. 
I feel satisfied, from my own experience, that those who may adopt this method 
of propagating Poses on their own roots will not be disappointed. 
Maybush , A. D. 
CULTURE OF MELONS IN POTS. 
What I propose is to set up the growth of Melons in pots in opposition to 
beds of soil. By this method we know they can be brought to the highest 
state of perfection without any difficulty in low narrow houses, and I cannot 
see any valid reason why the same result may not be obtained in brick pits, 
whether bottom heat is supplied by hot water or fermenting dung. Let us 
adopt the latter means of heating, which is the more common of the two. 
The dung bed should be made in the usual way, and when the heat has sub¬ 
sided to about 85°, the pots may be safely plunged up to the rim, they being 
filled with rather adhesive soil, mixed with a fifth part of rotten manure, kept 
high enough to produce a slight elevation above the general surface, so as to 
prevent the accumulation of moisture at the neck of the plant. Pot-culture 
restrains excessive growth, and does away with the necessity of constant 
stopping and thinning, and were these the only advantages something would 
be gained; but there is another to which I would wish to direct special atten¬ 
tion, and that is a reduction in the consumption of soil. Some gardeners are 
so favoured that it may be had ad libitum; but with the majority, when a 
supply is required, it is begrudged, and should the application not meet with 
entire rejection, the gardener is referred to some uncongenial corner where he 
is obliged to skin off the most suitable patches here and there. Should crops 
fail, and plants die, or become sickly, the subject of nourishment is never 
thought of, or disregarded, and the whole blame is thrust upon the operator’s 
unsuccessful management. 
What is used is that known among gardeners as an 18-inch pot, and as 
d 2 
