55 ° 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
August 17, 1907 
Fruit Growing 
9.—MELONS. 
(Continued- from p. 475 -) 
for Amateurs. 
Treatment during the Growing 
Period. —Encourage the main stem to 
grow — in a house — three parts up the 
wires on the roof, then pinch off the ends 
of the plants. Side shoots, which will 
have formed by that time, will rapidly 
grow, and on these the young Melons 
appear. (See figs. 7 and 11.) 
7 
Shows stage of growth when leader should 
he -pinched. 
Watch the development of the embryo 
fruits, and when there are three or more 
in full flower fertilise them about mid¬ 
day when the pollen is dry. Many ama¬ 
teurs are, probably, inexperienced in the 
setting of Melons. A female flower has 
a small fruit attached to it; a male flower 
has not. Take a staminate (see fig. 9) 
(male) flower, remove the petals care¬ 
fully, and then insert the bundle of 
stamens in the centre of a pistillate (fe¬ 
male) (see fig. 8) bloom, and let it re¬ 
main there until it shrivels (see fig. 10). 
If the female flower shrivels too, and the 
embryo fruit attached to it remains green 
and forthwith begins to swell, a perfect 
“set ” has resulted. 
Female or fruit flo-wer „ 
? 
Male flower. 
When you have secured the full com¬ 
plement of fruits on a plant pinch off the 
ends of the side shoots on which they are 
growing two joints' beyond the fruit, and 
afterwards also remove all sub-lateral 
shoots and male blossoms which form. 
Maintain the soil in a medium state of 
moisture, feeding with weak doses of 
manure water every third day while the 
Melons are swelling, and top dress as 
soon as roots are found near the surface. 
A heavy top-dressing should not be put 
on ; one, two inches deep will be sufficient. 
Continue to apply these top-dressings 
until the fruit shows colour for ripening. 
The best material for this purpose is a 
mixture of lumpy, fibrous loam, and well 
rotted manure in the proportion of three 
parts of loam to one part of manure. 
G. 
A, staminate (male) flower, placed in B, 
pistillate (female) flower; C, staminate 
flower prepared for insertion. 
-- 
Bruckenthalia spiculifolia is a 
Heath-like plant, belonging to the Heath 
family, and growing to a height of 6 in. 
It is a native of Asia Minor, and has pale 
rosy purple flowers, 
Begonia Rote Lubeca. 
The above is the name of a new varie 
of Begonia semperflorens, sometim 
spoken of as a fibrous-rooted Begoni 
It is a new plant that would seem to ha' 
arisen as a seedling amongst a sowii 
of the rose coloured Begonia Lubec 
The plant is of dwarf habit, producir 
great quantities of flowers of modera 
size, and of a beautiful shining reddi 
carmine colour. The leaves are greeni: 
brown. The peculiar distinctions of tb 
new variety are its excessively compa 
and globular habit with a great profusic 
of flowers. It is said to stand b; 
weather better than the rose coloun 
Lubeca in the open air. A photograph 
a plant appears in the July number 1 
“Revue de l’Horticulture Beige.” 
D 
// 
A, main stem pinched; B, B, side shoe 
stopped; C, C, C, fruits forming; D, ma 
stem of plant. 
The N.S.P. Society at Reading College. 
On the 19th ult. the National Swe 
Pea Society paid a visit to Reading Cc 
lege, where a splendid trial of Swe 
Peas was being conducted for them 1 
Mr. Charles Foster. There were no le 
than 333 trials, representing differe 
varieties and stocks from different sourc 
in order to trace their free flowerii 
qualities, size of flower, and other pr 
perties, but more particularly to test the 
fixity and trueness to description of tl 
original. On the day previous to tl 
visit the Floral Committee journey 
down to Reading for the purpose of gi 
ing the Peas a quiet inspection in ord 
to single out those varieties which a 
too much alike and to have them brae 
eted together as practically synonymoi 
for exhibition purposes. After a thorouj 
inspection of the Sweet Peas on the Fi 
day, the whole party sat down 
luncheon in the Staff Common Room 
the College under the presidency of M 
Leonard G. Sutton, who is one of tl 
vice-presidents and also the chairman 
committee of the Society. Last year w 
the first time that the Society had ai 
recognised trial of Sweet Peas of its ow 
and the experiments this year have be< 
on a far more extensive scale and qui 
justified the Society in placing their e 
periments under the care of Mr. Foste 
who has charge of the horticultural d 
parfment of Reading College. 
