64 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
loam, rich in vegetable rudiments, with a mixture of sand, but not too light, 
The following is a good compost ; two thirds of top-spit earth from a sheep- 
common, adding sharp sand, if the earth contains little or none, till half is 
sand; one sixth of vegetable mould, and one sixth of well consumed horse- 
dung. Or, it the earth is not obtained from a sheep-pasture, rotted sheep- 
dung may be substituted for the last. The ingredients should have been pul¬ 
verized and incorporated by long previous exposure and turning overT Dr. 
Deane observed that “ a good manure to be put under melons is an old com 
post of good loam, with the dung of neat cattle or swine. ,? 
Sowing melons in the open ground. —Mr. Armstrong says, “ To succeed in 
raising them for market, the Honfieur method, as described by M. Calvel, 
*may be employed. Select a spot well defended against the north wind, and 
open to the sun throughout the day. If such is not to be found in your gar¬ 
den, create a temporary and artificial shelter, producing the same effect. At 
the end of March, form holes two feet in diametef, and distant from each 
other seven feet and a half; fill these with horse-dung and litter, or a mix¬ 
ture of mould, dung and sand. At the end of twenty days, cover the holes, 
which have been thus filled, with hand-glasses. When the heat rises to 36 
* of Reaumur, (113 Fahr.,) sow the seeds four inches apart; and when the 
plants have acquired two or three leaves, pinch off the end of the branch or 
runner. This will produce lateral branches, which must again be pinched 
off, as soon as they respectively attain to the length of ten inches. When 
the plant has outgrown the glass, the latter becomes useless, and maybe re¬ 
moved ; but, should the weather be wet or chilly, substitute coverings of 
clean strew for that of the glasses, until the young plant becomes strong 
enough to ^ear the open air. Two or three melons only are left on each 
vine, and under each of these is placed a slate, without which the upper and 
under side will not ripen together. Two months are required to mature 
them. The people of Honfleur attribute their success in melon-raising to the 
sea-vapor which surrounds them, and to the saline particles contained in it, 
an advantage to be anywhere commanded, by dissolving a little salt in the 
water employed to moisten themT Whether a bed of slate would prove too 
warm for the melon in our climate, we cannot say. Perhaps shingles or 
boards might be preferable, as they would not be rendered so hot by the 
noon-day sun, nor so cold by the night air We have never Known salt, ei¬ 
ther in substance or solution, used as a manure for melons, but think it would 
be well to try its effects. 
The following are McMahon’s directions for raising melons in the open 
ground. Sometime in. May, “prepare a place of rich, sandy ground, well 
exposed to the sun ; manure it, and give it a good digging; then mark it out 
into squares of six feet every way; at the angle of every square dig a hole 
twelve inches deep, and eighteen over, into which put seven or eight inches 
deep of old hot-bed dung, or very rotten manure; throw thereon about four 
