FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 493 



well mixed with it, after which enough soil is added to make the hill level 

 with the top of the ground. The hill is now ready for the seed. The seed 

 should be from a reliable source. Ten or twelve seeds should be planted in 

 a circle, about one foot in diameter, in the center of each hill; then draw on 

 from one-half to two-thirds of an inch of fresh, moist soil, and press it down 

 firmly with the hoe; also, add lightly from one-fourth to one-half inch of 

 loose dirt, to act as a mulch. When the seeds germinate, and as soon as the 

 plants begin to run or after all danger from insects is past, thin to two or 

 three plants, leaving the thriftiest in each hill. 



• ' Cultivation is begun as soon as the plants are well up . It is made deep 

 and thorough and as often as necessary to keep down the weeds. Especial 

 pains are taken to loosen the soil about the plants after rains. When the 

 vines begin to run more shallow cultivation is practiced. The vines at this 

 time are very tender, and great care is taken not to step on them or injure 

 them in any way. Should strong winds prevail and the vines be blown 

 about, a little loose dirt is drawn over them at intervals of three or four 

 feet. This serves to hold them in place until ihe melons get large enough to 

 hold them. 



' 'Should the small striped cucumber beetles appear about the time the 

 plants come up, they may be driven away by lightly sprinkling the plants 

 with some such substance as tobacco dust, ashes, ground bone, plaster or 

 lime. The beetles are likely to appear suddenly, and if not taken in hand at 

 once may destroy the entire field." 



Save in a few isolated cases, all of the melon raising in the north will be 

 largely done by men who are in the business merely for their own satisfac- 

 tion in having the melon for home consumption. There are a few who 

 raise melons for market, but these men make a study of the matter and 

 handle the melon as a regular crop. With the average farmer the case is 

 different. With him the melon is a side issue and the ground is plowed, 

 worked and planted at some time convenient with other work. The result 

 is that the melon is shifted off to one side, which, we believe, is one of the 

 most important reasons why «o many thousands of farmers have utterly 

 failed with the crop. 



