164 GARDEXIXG FOR PROFIT 



MELON.— M.vsK.—{Oueumia Melo.) 



The Melon is not cultivated in the vicinity of New 

 York, in the market gardens proper, but to a large extent 

 in what may be called the farm-gardens of Long Island 

 and New Jersey. There it is grown almost in the same 

 manner as. they grow Corn, planting about the same time, 

 and cultivating in the same manner, and often with but 

 very little more profit per acre than a crop of Corn. But 

 the Melon is a fruit easily shipped, and when grown by 

 the forwarding process we detail for Cucumbers — by 

 planting the seeds on sods under glass — there is no ques- 

 tion but that it can be made equally profitable in all re- 

 spects with the Cucumber, when grown in southern lati- 

 tudes for our northern markets ; although like many other 

 fruits and vegetables so easily raised, it can never be ex- 

 pected to be profitable if used in the district in which it 

 is grown. It is a plant not at all particular as to soil, pro- 

 vided it be not wet or heavy ; moderately enriched light 

 soils are those most congenial to it. 



For open field culture, they should be planted in hills 6 

 feet each way, incorporating well with the soil, in each 

 hill, a couple of shovelfuls of thoroughly rotted manure. 

 Sow four or five seeds in each hill,* and cultivate afterwards 

 as for Corn. Too much care cannot be used in saving the 



* The term, 'hill," when used here and elsewhere, means but a slight, if 

 any, elevation of the surface, and is used only as a convenient term to denote 

 where the seed or plant is to be planted. But from the signification of the 

 word, it naturally leads the novice in gardening into very serious error, by caus- 

 ing him to think he must literally raise a hill on which to sow or plant, and in 

 consequence we too frequently see plants elevated on little knolls a foot or more 

 above the general surface, from which the rain slides, and on which the sun beats 

 to their utter destruction. 



