The requisite supply of water is an important matter.  The plant should never be dry at the root, and must have a light shower twice a day over the leafage, but the moisture which is necessary for Cucumbers would be excessive for Melons.  It is a golden rule to grow Melons liberally, keeping them sturdy by judicious air-giving, and to give them a little extra watering just as they are coming into flower.  Then, as the flowers open, the watering at the root should be discontinued, and the syringe should be used in the evening only at shutting up.  If discontinued entirely, red spider will appear, and the crop will be in jeopardy, for that pest can be kept at a distance only by careful regulation of atmospheric moisture.

Melons in frames do better spread out on the beds than when trained on trellises.  When so grown, each fruit must be supported with a flat tile or an inverted flower-pot, and means must be taken, by pegs or otherwise, to prevent it from rolling off, for the twist of stem that ensues may check the fruit or cause it to fall.  When the fruits are as large as the top joint of a man’s thumb, watering may be resumed, and the syringe used twice a day until the fruit begins to change colour, when there must be a return to the dry system, but with care to avoid carrying it to a dangerous extreme.

==The Melon-house==, heated by hot water, is adapted to supply fruit earlier than is obtainable by frame culture, and is entirely superior to any frame or pit.  It appears, however, that in Melon-houses red spider is more frequently seen than in frames heated by fermenting material; but this point rests on management, and there can be nothing more certain than that a reasonable employment of atmospheric humidity may be made effectual for preventing and removing this pest.  For the convenient cultivation of the crop a lean-to or half-span is to be preferred.  The width should not exceed twelve feet, and ten to twelve feet should be the utmost height of the roof.  A service of pipes under the bed will be required; but as Melons are not grown in winter, the heating of a Melon-house is a simple affair, and, indeed, very much of the cultivation as the summer advances will be carried on by the aid of sun-heat only.  The treatment of the plants in a house differs from the frame management, because a trellis is employed, and the plants are taken up the trellis without stopping until they nearly reach the top, when the points are pinched out to promote the growth of side shoots.  In setting the fruit, the same principles prevail as in frame culture, and it is advisable to ‘set’ the whole crop at once; if two or three fruits obtain a good start, others that are set later will drop off.  As the fruits swell, support must be afforded to prevent any undue strain on the vine, and this should be accomplished by nets specially made for the purpose, or by suspending small flat boards of half-inch deal with copper wires, each fruit resting on its board, until the cracking