tg6 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



sod and cut the pieces about four inches square. I cut them about 

 a foot square and then cut them up in the proper dimensions. I 

 do not Hke that method as well, however, as planting the melons 

 right in the field and giving them this protection I spoke of. 



Mr. Clausen: I have had a little experience with melons. I 

 have not raised them very much. I have tried them in the green- 

 house in flats and transplanted them into small pots. I think a 

 transplanted plant does better. You know cabbage transplanted 

 grows a great deal better than those that are not transplanted. I 

 use the common small pots, and I find they do pretty well in that 

 way. You can just take up the pots and tap the bottom a little, 

 and the plants will drop right out. They do not grow as fast as 

 melons planted right out in the field, but they fruit quicker. I never 

 was able to get the fruit as early from melons planted in the field 

 as I got from those melons started in pots or in flats, and then 

 transplanted into pots when the third leaf appeared. They get a 

 better root that way. I think that is a very good way, although 

 perhaps they do not yield as heavily as field planted melons. 



THE BEST METHODS OF PROPAGATING THE PLUM. 



THOS. E. CASHMAN, OWATONNA. 



I will give you the method that has proven most successful 

 with me. To begin with, as soon as the plum is ripe in the fall 

 we secure the pits from our wild native, or cultivated native 

 varieties if they are to be had, by means of treading on them in 

 a tub or like arrangement until the pulp is loosened from the 

 pit. Then they are dumped into a coarse sieve nailed to a frame 

 made of 2x4 scantling, and then we turn on the city water by 

 means of a hose and nozzle until the juicy part is all washed 

 through the sieve, nothing remaining except the pits and skins, 

 which are easily separated by hand. 



When separated, we place the pits not over half an inch deep 

 on boards laid tight together in a shady place that has good air 

 circulation, and leave them there until the ground is prepared, 

 taking good care that they do not get dry or heated. If they get 

 too dry, the shell will crack open, and the meat part will likely 

 rot before the germinating season arrives. 



We usually prepare the ground the first week in September 

 or about the time the plum is ripe. The land should be made as 

 rich as possible by means of a good coat of fertilizer and plowed 

 at least ten inches deep. After the ground is thoroughly pul- 

 verized we take a corn-marker and mark the rows as straight as 

 possible, and then a common four shovel riding corn plow with 

 the center shovels removed is used and the outside shovels spread 



