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THE MELON.

It

PERSIA is the acknowledged home of the melon (Cucumis melo), where it has been regarded for ages not as a luxury, but as one of the necessaries of life. is the richest of all soft fleshy fruits. The date of its culture in Europe is so remote that the time of its introduction is not capable of being recorded. The Romans, as far back as the time of Tiberius-who is said to have had a special liking for melons-cultivated them by means of artificial heat, from which it would appear that forcing was an art not unknown. to the Romans. The cultivation of melons has been general in England since the middle of the sixteenth century. Although many of the varieties now in cultivation are very fine, they are not generally regarded such safe or wholesome fruits as to be liberally partaken of in this cold climate. Many, however, are passionately fond of them; and, to say the least of them, they are an interesting fruit to cultivate, and have a handsome appearance in the dessert. In too many instances, however, quality is sacrificed to external appearance; for often the more common-looking and smaller fruits are much superior in flavour to those that are large and handsome.

The varieties of melons that have been and are now in cultivation may be said to be almost innumerable. So exceedingly simple and certain-indeed so difficult of prevention where more than one variety are cultivated in the same garden-is their hybridisation, that every season is productive of fresh varieties in the majority of gardens. There are, however, three distinct types, which are known as the scarlet-fleshed, the varieties of which have sprung from the more hardy Cantaloupe; the green-fleshed, from the Egyptian green-fleshed; and the white-fleshed, from the more tender Persian varieties. The green-fleshed are the least attractive in appearance, but are generally the best flavoured in this country. The scarlets have of late years had some excellent additions to their lists. Some of the white-fleshed are thin-skinned, finely flavoured, and handsome; but to bring them to perfection requires more heat, and especially intense sunshine, than this country affords. According to the statements of travellers, there are melons in Bokhara and Turkestan which far surpass any cultivated in this country. But probably the intense sun and aridity of the atmosphere, with the attention paid to supply them liberally with water, may have more to do with their lusciousness and flavour than mere varieties; and they are, besides, more exquisitely relished in these hot dry countries than in this comparatively cold and sunless latitude, where they can only be cultivated under glass, aided with artificial heat both in the soil and air.

The chief improvement which has been effected in melon-culture during this generation may be said to consist in their being more generally cultivated in melon-houses, trained near the glass on wire trellises;

and the fruit being thus raised off the soil and suspended in the air, places them in a position more conducive to good flavour than when cultivated on the dung-bed system. And setting the fruit is more certain on the trellis system than when the plants are trained on the surface of the soil and unaided by the drier heat of hot-water pipes. Very early and late crops are less precarious and troublesome than when the heat is dependent on fermenting materials alone. Knowing that there are still plenty of gardeners and amateur growers all over the kingdom who have to raise their crops of melons by means of the old fermenting dung-bed and frames, to make these directions as comprehensive as the circumstances demand, both systems will be treated of. South of the Humber, in England, very little preparation is required to produce a crop of melons in the hottest months of the year in pits and frames, which in the earlier part of the year are generally used for hardening off flower - garden plants, without the means of applying artificial heat. In the neighbourhood of London, I have regularly grown good crops by merely putting about a foot of half decayed leaves or stable-manure in the frame under the soil. In the north, however, seasons of such sunlight and heat as would enable this to be effected without a little artificial heat do not often occur; and in such localities it is always best to prepare accordingly, and to choose certainly not the most tender and uncertain varieties for summer culture in frames not supplied with fire-heat.

Plenty of melons have, however, been ripened in May by means of hotbeds, common garden frames and pits, but not without much care and labour. For very early and late crops this old system is not now

to be recommended, in the case of any who can devote a few lights of a pit or house heated with hot water to the purpose, but can be successfully and with comparatively little trouble adopted for the intermediate crops in the hottest part of the season. Therefore, to embrace all classes of growers, I will treat of both the dung-bed and the melon-house systems.

GROWING MELONS IN DUNG-BEDS OR PITS.

The preparations necessary for constructing a seedbed for melons being the very same as for cucumbers, in connection with which we shall detail them,knowing that early cucumbers are more generally cultivated than very early melons, we will not now occupy space in giving the process here, but refer our readers to the chapter on cucumber-culture. With the same appliances as for cucumbers, the same sort of pits recommended for fruiting cucumbers in answers for melons; and when they are fruited on an ordinary hotbed and frame, the heat is maintained in the same way as recommended in the case of the seed-bed for raising cucumber-plants. In fact, if melons and cucumber-plants are to be raised at the same time, the same frame answers for both.

Although melon-culture by this means has often been commenced on the 1st of January, and fruit sent to table early in May, it is a task involving the most incessant watchfulness, and is attended with more or less of uncertainty unless the spring be unusually fine. Hence I do not recommend an earlier commencement than the 1st of February, from which time even it is not for a novice to carry out the various steps in the process. Indeed it can scarcely be considered a judi

cious direction of means and labour to commence so early without more certain appliances than fermenting material and common frames. However, as the mode of raising and general treatment of melons started thus early will meet the case of those who do not commence till later in the season, I will suppose, in order to meet all cases, an early start, and treat accordingly.

SOWING THE SEED, AND MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG

PLANTS.

If possible, choose seed not older than three or four years, of some early good-constitutioned variety, and steep the seeds in water for twelve hours before sowing them. At the same time prepare the required number of 4-inch pots, by placing one crock over the hole in their bottoms, and half-filling them with pure moderately moist yellow loam, and place them in the seed-frame to warm the soil. Sow three or four seeds in each pot, covering them with a quarter of an inch of the loam, and do not water them for the present. They should be plunged so as to get a bottom-heat of about 85°, and let the pots lean to the south, so that the young plants may get the sun when they peep through the soil. The temperature of the air should range from 72° to 75°. In the case of fermenting beds the heat at night has to be chiefly regulated by the amount of covering over the glass, and by airgiving, which latter requires to be watchfully attended to, especially in fitful weather. As soon as the young seedlings come up and expand their seed-lobes, showing which are to be the two healthiest and dwarfest plants, remove the others, and mould up the stems