96 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



use it liere. In IViine.ssee, it is used on wliicli to grow cantaloupes and 

 1 have seen tlieni there of a most excellent f(uality. 



1 am very jiarticular in the selection of my coni])Osr for 

 the seed bed. All my ])lants are thrown in five inch square boxes. We 

 tried larger boxes but have gone back to the small ones. 



We get our stable manure wherever we can, free from sawdust. It 

 don't make any difference how green it is if you can compost it. It is 

 thoroughly handled over, all sticks and cobs are throAvn out. When we 

 fill the boxes we take this stable manure or rotted compost, and run 

 it over sieves. We have large sieves 12 ft. long and 2i/2 ft. wide. These 

 are put on saw horses and the meshes are from one inch to one and one- 

 half inches, nmde of telephone wire. You may ask, why do you go to all 

 that trouble. The reason for it is that we want every plant to look like 

 every other plant and you cannot get them all alike unless your com- 

 post is all alike. 



Tliese^boxes can be filled weeks before the time needed to plant them. 

 If weeds come up so much the better. Make a little depression in the 

 box, say two and one-half or three inches around and cover that over 

 with sand — not sand really — but w^ood soil, which should also be run 

 through the sieve. Cover that over and then plant the seeds in the center 

 not over % of an inch deep. You can plant a dozen seeds if you want 

 to but if your seed is good, two or three will be suflflcient. There are 

 times when we want a better plant than another and by having several 

 you can plant a good selection. Sometimes, we put in two layers of com- 

 post and a light layer of well rotted chicken manure. This has lots 

 of nitrogen in it and there is a liability that your plants will be burned 

 so look out for it. The temperature may be 100 to 135 degrees during 

 the time until the plant comes up. After they are up then we hoe them 

 over witli crooked knives and cut out all the plants but one. You may 

 think this is a dangerous practice and you may lose some hills but what 

 is all this for. It is that you may supply the best trade of the best 

 people and while you may leave two plants and get a fairly good melon 

 if you will grow but one plant you will get a better melon, and in 

 that way one plant will produce you just as much as two plants and of 

 a much better quality. 



In transplanting the land is first laid out. I use stable manure (juite 

 largely and think that it is the best for raising cantaloupes. We open 

 up row^s both ways and throw the manure so that it nearly touches one 

 way. Then cover it over with a plow that throws a furrow both ways. 

 That leaves a ridge and you can tell just where your center is to set 

 your plants. We open it with horse and an 8 in. lister, though where 

 there are only a few, this work can be done with a hoe. We cut the 

 corners of the boxes and set the plant in its place without disturbing it. 

 These plants are four to five weeks old and sometimes six weeks old be- 

 fore put in. Each plant coming into the field should have a runner 

 six inches long before setting. 



We spray these plants in the hot beds with Bordeaux mixture, com- 

 mon solution. We do that for two reasons, to head off the fungus that 

 gets on the plp.nt oftentimes, ruining the quality of the cantaloupe; 

 and for another reason it has a tendency to check the aphis. Then again, 

 "we spray just z i soon as the plants are set out and begin growing. I 

 want to impress upon you the necessity of spraying to kill the fungus. 



