222 MUSKMELON. 
greatly disturbs their domestic arrangements. In one of 
our melon experiments, when the mealy-bug got a foot- 
hold, we picke<| them off with pincers. We went over 
the vines three times, at intervals, and eradicated the 
pests; and the labor of it—the vines were small-—-was 
much less than one would suppose. 
There are two troublesome fungous disorders of frame 
melons. One is the mildew (-rysiphe Cichoracearum, or 
Oidium of earlier writers), which appears as whitish 
mold-like patches on the upper surface of the leaves. 
It also attacks cucumbers. It may be kept in check by 
evaporating sulphur in the house, as described on pages 
gt and 92. It is imperative that the sulphur do not 
take fire, for burning sulphur is fatal to plants. 
The second fungus is canker, or damping-off (see 
page 84). This usually attacks the plants after they have 
attained some size in the benches, sometimes even when 
they are in fruit. The vine stops growing, turns yellow, 
and finally begins to wilt. If the plant is examined at 
the surface of the ground and just beneath the soil, 
the stem will be found to be brown, and perhaps some- 
what decayed, the bark sloughs off, and sometimes deep 
ulcers are eaten into the tissue. In this stage of the 
disease nothing can be done to save the plant. The 
treatment must be a preventive one. Keep the soil 
dry about the stem. Do not apply water directly at 
the root. In order to keep the soil dry, it is an ex- 
cellent plan to hill up the plant slightly. It is also 
well to strew clean, white sand about the plant to keep 
the surface of the soil and the stem dry. If a little sul- 
phur is mixed with the soil about the plant, the spread 
of the fungus will be checked. Some persons sprinkle 
lime about the plant to check the fungus. 
A most serious difficulty once appeared upon our mel- 
ons, and which we have called the house-blight (Fig. 79, 
page 223). The first visible injury to the leaves was the 
appearing of yellowish fungous-like spots or patches on 
