for a bunch of grapes grew and ripened, when grafted upon a leaf stalk; and a succulent young shoot of the Vine, under the same circumstances, acquired a growth of many feet.*

The fruit, or seed-vessel, appears to be generated wholly by the prepared sap of the plant, and its chief office to be that of adapting the fluids, which ascend into it, to afford proper nutriment to the seeds it contains.

I proceed to offer some observations upon the proper culture of the Melon.

There is not, I believe, any species of fruit at present cultivated in the gardens of this country, which so rarely acquires the greatest degree of perfection, which it is capable of acquiring in our climate, as the Melon. It is generally found so defective both in richness and flavour, that it ill repays the expense and trouble of its culture; and my own gardener, though not defective in skill or attention, had generally so little success, that I had given him orders not to plant Melons again. Attending, however, after my orders were given, more closely to his mode of culture, and to that of other gardeners in my neighbourhood, I thought I saw sufficient cause for the want of flavour in the fruit, in the want of efficient foliage; and appealing to experiment, I have had ample reason to think my opinions well founded.

'The leaves of the Melon, as of every other plant, naturally arrange themselves so as to present, with the utmost advantage, their upper surfaces to the light and if, by any means, the position of the plant is changed, the leaves, as long as they are young and vigorous, make efforts to regain their proper position. But the extended branches of the Melon

# Philosophical Transactions, 1803 and 1804.

+ Ibid. 1801.

plant, particularly under glass, are slender and feeble; its leaves are broad and heavy, and its leaf stalks long; so that if the leaves be once removed, either by the weight of water from the watering pot, the hand of the gardener in pruning or eradicating weeds, or any other cause, from their proper position, they never regain it; and in consequence, a large portion of that foliage, which preceded, or was formed at the same period with the blossoms, and which nature intended to generate sap to feed the fruit, becomes diseased and sickly, and consequently out of office, before the fruit acquires maturity.

To remedy this defect, I placed my plants at greater distances from each other than my gardener had previously done, putting a single plant under each light, the glass of which was six feet long by four wide. The beds were formed of a sufficient depth of rich mould to ensure the vigorous growth of the plant: and the mould was, as usual, covered with brick-tiles, over which the branches were conducted in every direction, so as to present the largest possible width of foliage to the light. Many small hooked pegs, such as the slender branches of the beech, the birch, and hazle, readily afford, had been previously provided; and by these, which passed into the mould of the bed, between the tiles, the branches of the plants were secured from being disturbed from their first position. The leaves were also held erect, and at an equal distance from the glass, and enabled, if slightly moved from their proper position, to regain it.

I, however, still found that the leaves sustained great injury from the weight of the water falling from the watering pot; and I therefore ordered the water to be poured, from a vessel

of a proper construction, upon the brick-tiles, between the leaves, without at all touching them; and thus managed, I had the pleasure to see, that the foliage remained erect and healthy. The fruit also grew with very extraordinary rapidity, ripened in an unusually short time, and acquired a degree of perfection, which I had never previously seen.

As soon as a sufficient quantity of fruit (between twenty and thirty pounds) on each plant is set, I would recommend the further production of foliage to be prevented, by pinching off the lateral shoots as soon as produced, wherever more foliage can not be exposed to the light. No part of the full grown leaves should ever be destroyed before the fruit is gathered unless they injure each other, by being too much crowded together; for each leaf, when full grown, however distant from the fruit, and growing on a distinct branch of the plant, still contributes to its support; and hence it arises, that when a plant has as great a number of growing fruit upon part of its branches, as it is capable of feeding, the blossoms upon other branches, which extend in an opposite direction, prove abortive.

The variety of Melon, which I exclusively cultivate, is little known in this country, and was imported from Salonica by Mr. HAWKINS. Its form is nearly spherical, when the fruit is most perfect, and without any depressions upon its surface; its colour approaching to that of gold, and its flesh perfectly white. It requires a much greater state of maturity than any other variety of its species, and continues to improve in flavour and richness, till it becomes externally soft, and betrays some symptoms of incipient decay. The consistence

of its flesh is then nearly that of a Water Melon, and it is so sweet, that few will think it improved by the addition of sugar. The weight of a good Melon of this variety is about seven pounds.

XLIII. On raising Young Potatoes in the Winter Months. By A. SHERBROOKE, Esq. of Oxton, in Nottinghamshire.

IN

Read March 5, 1811.

N the beginning of May, lay a quantity of the largest Oxnoble Potatoes two or three deep, on a dry cellar floor, and turn them over once in about three weeks, rubbing off all the white sprouts as they appear, but not the spawn or rudiments of the young Potatoes. At the end of September have ready a few boxes; at the bottom of each put six inches of decayed leaves, dried to a vegetable mould, and place upon it a single layer of Potatoes, close to each other; then put another layer of the same mould, six inches deep, then another of Potatoes, and so on till the boxes are full. Set the boxes in a dry covered place, free from frost, never giving them any water. They will produce good fine young Potatoes in December; and those which are ready may be taken off, and the old Potatoes replaced until the remainder of the produce shall be ready.

To obtain a succession, place other Potatoes in vegetable mould, in the succeeding winter months.