No. 7. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 605 



is a favorite in many home gardens as well as of great commer- 

 cial importance in many sections of this country. At the mere 

 mention of the name we immediately think of New Jersey, the 

 Delaware Peninsula, ^Maryland, Ohio and the districts around Kocky 

 Ford, Colo. We think of these sections as affording ideal soil and 

 climatic conditions, of their methods as the best and of their grow- 

 ers as thoroughly up-to-date as the light of modern science will 

 permit. However true tliis may be, the fact remains that we are 

 usually very much disappointed in the fruit from these sections 

 as it reaches our markets and tables, and we are rapidly recogniz- 

 ing the high-cjuality of home-grown melons whenever they are to be 

 found on our markets. 



T\'e find that comparatively few melons are raised in Pennsyl- 

 vania and that our larger markets are being supplied almost wholly 

 by the sections previously mentioned, while merchants in many of 

 our smaller towns and villages do not pretend to handle them at all, 

 thereby depriving a large rural population of a most delicious and 

 healthful food. This condition should not be so, because by con- 

 tinuous breeding together with the varying soil and climatic con- 

 ditions of this country the melon has become adapted to a wide 

 range of territory and is capable of being grown in larger numbers 

 in Pennsylvania. I presume, however, that the low status of melon 

 growing here in this state may be due to three causes, first, lack 

 of knowledge regarding culture. Second, the tendency to late ma- 

 turity, and third, improper selection of varieties. Many have failed 

 or obtained only partial success because the requirements of the 

 crop have not been thoroughly understood. Soil, seed, planting, 

 cultivating, harvesting, marketing, insect pests and diseases are all 

 factors that spell success or failure in proportion to the amount of 

 knowledge and proper practice of each. 



It is not my purpose this morning to lay down any specific rules 

 that will guarantee a crop of melons, but rather to consider some- 

 what broadly perhaps the vital points of melon growing in Penn- 

 sylvania ^^dth the hope that some suggestions may be offered that 

 will lead to a more general production of this highly desirable article 

 of food. 



While we usually recognize a sandy loam as best adapted to melon 

 growing, it is a fact that heavier soils containing a considerable 

 amount of clay, if well drained, well located and supplied with humus 

 and plant food will grow good melons. I would select if possible 

 a piece of land that has a good slope to the South in preference 

 to land on the lower levels, because the former is more quickly 

 warmed up in the Spring, natural drainage of the soil is usually 

 better and there is good air drainage. Such land should be brought 

 into as high a state of fertility for melons as for any other crop. 

 Soil capable of growing a good clover sod may be considered in 

 good condition for melons in fact, it is recommended to plow down 

 a clover sod in the fall and in the spring make an application of 

 yard manure at the rate of 10 or 15 tons per acre. The fall plowing 

 should be deep and the working of the soil with a disc or cutaway 

 in the spring should be most thorough in order to completely in- 

 corporate the manure with the soil and to make the soil open, loose 

 and fine and capable of holding large amounts of moisture for the 



