The Canadian Horticulturist. 201 



COMMERCIAL MELON GROWING UNDER IRRIGATION. 



-TTHE watermelon delights in a light sandy soil, while its companion, the 

 ^ cantaloupe, succeeds best on a clay loam, or at least a heavier 



soil than the former. Both do best on the new land, and as this 

 is about all exhausted that is under irrigation in this section some 

 plan of renewal must be adopted. We are having very good 

 success by allowing the land to produce a crop of corn every 

 other year, but it seems the best results will be obtained by plow- 

 ing under alfalfa sod and growing about two crops of melons in sucession on the 

 same land. 



The ground for melons should be irrigated during the winter or early 

 spring, so that when plowed and harrowed in April it will hold moisture long 

 enough to bring up the plants, seeds of which should be planted about the first 

 •of May, or after the soil has became warm enough to hasten germination. The 

 furrows for irrigation are made before planting and should be run in the direc- 

 tion the water will run most readily, the tools generally used being either a 

 single shovel or six inch diamond plow. For watermelons these furrows should 

 be about nine or ten feet apart, and the hills about eight feet in the row. Can- 

 taloupes need less room, and six by four feet will do very well. 



The planting is usually done with a hoe ; a hole about two inches deep is 

 drawn out, into which five or six seeds are scattered, when the soil is replaced 

 and firmed a little with the back of the hoe. When this is accomplished the 

 top of the hill should be on a level with the land, and the seeds about on a level 

 with the edge of the water when it comes slowly down the furrow in irrigating 

 ■during the summer. Then the plants when they come up should be near 

 •enough the brink of the furrow to get their roots thoroughly saturated, but never 

 be flooded. The ground between the rows should be kept free of weeds and 

 well cultivated, while the hoe should be brought into frequent use around the 

 hill, and when the plants get large enough to judge of their vitality they should 

 be thinned to about two or three of the strongest, standing two or three inches 

 ^part in the hill. — Frank Crowley, Col., in American Agriculturist. 



Growing Cucumbers for Pickling.— Growing cucumbers so as to have 

 a large quantity of small ones for pickling, is quite a distinct art of culture from 

 growing them for ordinary uses. In order to have them bear abundantly, and 

 not get large, they are usually sown in long ridges, and suffered to grow up 

 rather thickly together. The vines are continually being pinched back, in order 

 that they may produce a large number of comparatively small shoots, which 

 naturally produce weaker cucumbers than larger and stronger shoots would. 

 They usually bring, at wholesale, from fifteen to twenty dollars a bushel. — 

 Meehans' Monthly. 



