354 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



There is no sub-soil indoors to catch the drainage, and a mellow 

 field soil is often so loose and porous that the water runs through 

 the benches and carries away the plant food. The house soil must 

 therefore be retentive, but then there is danger that it will become 

 j)uddled or sodden, or arrive in that condition which a gardener 

 knows as a '" som-" soil. This condition may be avoided by the use 

 of the stable manure to add fiber to the soil, by the very frequent 

 stirring of the immediate surface with a hand weeder, and particu- 

 larly by great care in watering. As the fruits begin to mature, 

 water the house very sparingly. " The less water given, the higher 

 will be the flavor of the fruit."* Inasmuch as old or fruiting plants 

 require a dry house and young plants thrive best in a moister at- 

 mosphere, it is not advisable to attempt to grow successive plantings 

 of melons simultaneously in the same house. 



The bench, should not be above 7 inches deep, and perhaps 

 5 inches is better. If the soil is too deep, the plants grow too 

 much and are late in coming into bearing. If the bench is 4 

 feet wide, two rows of plants, two and a half feet apart in the rows, 

 may be grown ; but if the bench is an outside one it may be handier 

 in training if there is but a single row, with the plants about 

 18 inches apart. It should always be borne in mind, however, 

 that at least twice the number of plants should be set in the beds 

 which are ultimately to grow in them for there will almost certainly 

 be accidents and black aphis, and mildew and damping off. When 

 the plants have stood in the benches two or three weeks, the weak 

 ones may be pulled out. It is a good practice, when but a single 

 row is planted, to set the plants nearer one side than the other, and 

 then leave the wider side of the bench empty, and add the soil to 

 it as the plants need it. In this way fresh forage is obtained for 

 the roots in soil which has not been leached of its plant food nor 

 impaired in its mechanical condition ; and the plants will make a 

 steady growth from start to finish, rather than an over-vigorous one 

 at first. If there is too much soil, the roots S]3read tlirough it quickly 

 and the plants run at once to vine. 



Sowing and Trmisplanting. — The seeds should be sown in pots. 

 We like to place a single seed in a 2-inch pot, and in about three 

 weeks — if in summer or fall — to transplant the seedling into a 

 4-inch pot. In two or three weeks more, the plant may be set per- 



* George Mills, A Treatise ou the Cucnmber and Melon, 73. 



