CULTIVATION OF THE MELON.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1839, 14 January 1880, Page 4

CULTIVATION OF THE MELON.

["Journal of Horticulture."] For many years I have practised -with success a mode of growing melons different from that recommended by some of the leading horticultural writers. I have been asked by some of the readers of the "Jour nal of Horticulture " to describe my system and its results. Though reluctant to enter the field as a writer on a matter that has been so largely discussed, I have thought that it can do no harm only to state my own experience. Perhaps the principal feature of my system is in supplying the plants liberally with ■water at all stages of their growth, so as to keep them in perfect health and in a bearing state as long as possible ; whereas the generality of writers recommend the withholding of water at the root and keeping a drier atmosphere as the fruit approaches maturity. By following the latter mode of culture the plants are stopped in their growth, wither np, and some even die before the first crop of fruit is ripe, and if they do not die they are worthless for further cropping. This drying off system is practised with the idea that it imparts a superior flavour to the fruit. Bat taking a natural view of the subject, I cannot see how plants in a dving state can yield as good a flavour, or finish off the fruit to anything like the same perfection, as plants in a robust state of health. It is long since I made up my mind that the drying-off system was a mistake, and the last eighteen years' experience h»s proved to my satisfaction I was correct in thinking so. I never allow the plants to suffer for want of water at any time, nor withhold syringing, no matter what state of ripeness the fruit is in, and I have seldom had cracked or a badly flavoured fruit. "With plants grown in a house, and trained on a trellis or treated liberally, I have no difficulty in _ obtaining fruit for a long season in succession in the same way and with no more trouble than with cucumbers. As the plants grow older they produce fruit more freely, and I find no difficulty in inducing the fruits to set and swell oif. They set so freely that I have generally to thin them out, and. it is seldom that there are less than from six to eight fruits on a plant all in different stages of growth at the same time. It is different when the plants are young and vigorous. Many of the first fruits after they set turn yellow and die, but after the first five or six have swelled off (if the plants are kept clean and. healthy) they will then set and swell off as freely as cucumbers, and bear fine fruit for a long time if properly attended to. My experience is different with melons grown in hotbets, pits, and cold frames, and I cannot say the same of their bearing qualities, more especially when the vines are trained on the soil in which they are planted. For one thing, there is more difficulty in working amongst them ; the light have to be taken off every tjme attention is necessary, such as watering, syringing, and stopping shoots, which must be done when the weather is favourable ; and in cold wet seasons like the present the stems are liable to decay when lying on the ground. With melons grown in a house there is the advantage of the plants being always under one's eye and easily attended to as regards the stopping and regulating the shoots, fertilising the fruit, watering the borders, syringing, &c, at all times and in all kinds of weather.

Some cultivators rely more on the soil in which melons are grown than they do on the general treatment of the plants. I feel certain that melons can be grown, and grown well, in almost any kind of garden soil, if they receive a liberal supply of liquid manure and are otherwise properly attended to during the season. I have frequently grown melons for two years in the same soil, and the produce of both years has been first-prize fruit at exhibition tables where there was great competition. I mention this to show that more depends on the general treatment than on any particular kind of soil producing good fruit. The soil here is a brown loam, which is apt to rnn together and crack when used by itself. To prevent it from cracking and make it porous I add one barrowf ul of decayed horse droppings and a little charcoal to every three barrowfuls of soil. After all has been thoroughly mixed together by frequent turnings it is trodden firmly and evenly in the bed where the melons are to be grown. Everyone who has had much experience in growing melons knows how apt the plants are to decay close at the neck of the stem if the soil is at all damp, and how provoking it is to see the plants in a whole frame ruined before a fruit has been gathered. With the idea of protecting the necks of the plants and preventing decay I hud collars made of the same material as flower pots, ten inches in diameter, two inches deep, and one inch thick, to guard off water when watering the borders. The soil is raised a little higher than the rest of the bed, so as to allow of heavy waterings without the water coming in contact with the stems of the plants. After the plants have been planted and ■watered a first time the collars are placed over them and pressed firmly down on the soil, bo that the bed can be freely watered when required without the water touching the stems of the plants, as the spaces inside the collars are never watered afterwards. In a short time the soil becomes as dry as powder, and I have never known a plant to rot at the neck since I adopted this plan. The plants ore allowed to grow to within eighteen inches of the top of the trellis (which is some seven feet) before they are stopped, and all the tendrils are taken off as they appear. The lateral shoots are stopped at the first leaf above the fruit, and the first female flower that appears is fertilised, and others as they appear are operated on in succession. When there are too many sets at first they are thinned out to five or six, and by the time they have reached maturity there is no difficulty afterwards in keeping up a succession of fruit for months. The beds are watered regularly with liquid manure when required, and the surface of the bed is damped over, and the plants syringed every morning and evening to keep down red spider and encourage a robust growth, as previously stated, no matter what state of ripeness the fruit is in. lam still cutting good fruits from plants planted in a house in the beginning of April, which have been bearing heavily all summer. While I •write (September 22nd) six plants are ripening five fruits each in different stages of maturity; while those which were much later planted in pots and frames are all gone some time since.—A. Pettigrew, Castle Gardens, Cardiff.