THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 385 



decapitated vines with much interest, and sure enough new Ijranches came out 

 abundantly near the ground and from tiie axils of the leaves. They finally bud- 

 ded, blossomed, and fruited more abundantly than their neighl)ors,alLhougli about 

 a week later. None of tlie peas were picked, the entire crop being saved for seed. 

 They were thrashed, winnowed, and carefully measured separately on the'23nd 

 of August, with the following result: The six hundred headed-off plants 

 yielded y?ye plmnp quarts, while the six hundred unpruned ones, in the adjoin- 

 ing row, yielded /oz^r sccoit qtiaris." 



MISSOURI MELONS. 



Early in the year before our melons are fairly promising in the fields, our 

 markets are flooded with large fine ones from Missouri. We have often won- 

 dered about the success of the growers, and recently found in a southern paper 

 the following description of melon growing in Missouri : 



The melon district extends from Morley, Scott county, to a point ten miles 

 southwest of Charleston, Mississippi county, and is about twenty-five miles in 

 length by twelve in breadth. Its peculiarity is a light loamy soil, underlaid 

 with a bed of sand, in which water is found at a depth of a few feet. The roots 

 of the vines penetrate the subsoil easily, and draw from it an exhaustless sup- 

 ply of moisture. About 3,000 acres Avere in cultivation last season, and the 

 shipped product was 1,454 car-loads — about half a crop. The average yield in 

 a good season is a car-load to the acre, the price ranging from $60 to $100 per 

 carloaJ. The crops are sold on the ground to purchasers who visit the dis- 

 trict, gather the melons, load them in cars, and make their own arrangements 

 with the railroads. The farmers have nothing to do with this part of the busi- 

 ness. The following examples of individual crops are given : F. Ostner, of Diehl- 

 stadt, shipped from 130 acres 50 car-loads, which brought him $3,000. The 

 highest price he received for acar-load was $'^23, and the lowest $22. Average 

 price $G0. Henry Misefeld shipped 15 car-loads from 35 acres, which yielded 

 him $1,500. Peter Olson cultivated 50 acres and received for the first 10 car- 

 loads $1,050. Woodley Thomas sold 20 car-loads, from 35 acres, for $1,200. 

 Edward Gipson planted GO acres and sold his crop for $1,100. It will be 

 admitted that, considering the protracted drouth of last summer, which, it is 

 estimated, cut the crop short one-half, these are very satisfactory results for a 

 work which lasts only about four months, and involves little or no expenditure 

 of money. 



RIPENING LATE TOMATOES. 



Gen. Noble says, in a communication to the Rural New Yorker, that 

 some years since, through the Gardeners' Monthly, he told how to carry the 

 tomato season two or three months beyond its usual table limit. His plan was 

 the only one then readily available. The fully grown and about all the unripe 

 fruit of any size he picked and placed in an empty hot-bed and covered over 

 with the sash. Boards were first placed in the bottom on the ground and the 

 tomatoes spread over them. In the ordinary course of frosts and freezing 

 weather this would give the table about two mouths extra taste of the tomato. 



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