294 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES 



more than a month. A general fertilizer, applied at 

 sowing or before, may analyze nitrogen 3.3 per cent, 

 phosphoric acid 8.4 per cent, potash 7.5 per cent, 

 applied at the rate of about 600 pounds per acre; 

 follow with nitrate of soda as above, or with cotton- 

 seed meal, dried blood, or ground tankage, in a few 

 light doses. 



Pick when the melons are ripe, which is when the 

 white spot, where the fruit rests on the ground, turns 

 yellow and rough; or when the fruit no longer gives 

 out a ringing sound when struck by the hand. 



Rotation is necessary for successful Watermelon 

 culture. 



Diseases are not serious. For anthracnose, see under 

 Bean ; for powdery mildew, see under Muskmelon. 



Pests are much like those of Cucumber, which see. 

 Starnes, speaking in the Cyclopedia of American Horti- 

 culture of Watermelon-growing in the South, advises 

 spraying with Paris green (four ounces to fifty gallons 

 water) twice or three times at intervals of a week, on 

 the first appearance of the melon worm, cucumber 

 beetle, and flea beetle, spraying intermediately for the 

 melon louse with kerosene emulsion, or with kerosene 

 and water, one part to twenty. See also Muskmelon 

 pests. 



WASABI (Eutrema wasabi) is the Japanese Horse- 

 radish, which is so highly prized in its own country 



