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VEGETABLES. 363 
Mr. Leach: Are cattle allowed to run in that marsh? 
Mr. Pearce: Not any. Can it be improved? 
Mr. Leach: I see no way of improving the marsh if there is 
no outlet. Most of the marshes, by damming up the outlet 
can be readily overflowed until May or June, and this can be 
done even in ourdriest seasons. I hope this society will re- 
port this matter and try to agitate it until something is done. 
I know we have many thousand dollars worth of cranberries in 
this state, ifthe marshes receive the proper attention. 
MELONS ON SANDY SOIL. 
L. H. SCOFIELD, BLOOMINGTON. 
Iam not going to pose before this society as an expert in melon 
culture, for while my experience in raising melons to eat extends 
back to the dark nights of my boyhood, I have raised melons for 
market only during the last six years. Our soil, as the title of this 
article implies, is a sandy soil varying from a rich sandy loam with 
a heavy clay subsoil to a light sand with hardly a trace of clay in 
the subsoil. This last is our best melon ground, producing in any 
sort of a year a greater quantity and melons of much superior qual- 
ity to those raised on richer and heavier soil. 
We plow early in spring to start the weeds and plow again about 
May 10th. Mark the ground one way with a marker six feet for 
watermelons, five feet for late muskmelons and three feet for early 
muskmelons; mark the other way with a team and large single 
shovel plow furrows six feet apart. This makes the checks six by 
six, five by six and three by six. Into the furrow at the check, we 
puta large scoop-shovelful of fine, well rotted manure, working it 
well into the soil with a spading fork, leaving the hill level with the 
ground. In this hill we plant eight or ten seeds, being careful to 
tramp the ground firmly over the seeds. Given good seed, this 
tramping does more to insure a good stand of plants than any one 
thing. Last summer during the dryest time, when the ground 
seemed like an ash-heap, by insisting on the tramping process we 
got on half an acre of cucumbers a stand, without one missing hill. 
As soon as the seeds are planted and before they have time to 
sprout, we drag the ground with a light slanting-tooth harrow, being 
careful to have the team straddle the rows. This smoothes and fines 
the ground so that no crust forms on the hill. As soon as the plant 
unfolds its leaves, each hill is dusted with a handful of finely ground 
bone mealand land plaster. This stimulates the plant, drives off the 
striped squash bug and makes the row so we can see to follow it 
with the sulky-cultivator. Thin to four plants in the hill at the 
second hoeing, and keep the ground mellow and free from weeds, as 
no one can raise a good crop of melons in a weedy field. We aim to 
do as much ofthe work with a team as possible, avoiding all the hand 
work we can. 
