CANTALOUPE CULTURE AND PEDIGREED CANTALOUPE SEED. 



No. 6, the horse planter or the sugar beet drill is used in the Rocky Ford 

 district. The important point is to get the seed dropped uniformly, and 

 the drill set to plant at a uniform depth, not over one and a half inches; 

 as soon as the plants are nicely up they should be thinned to single plants, 

 far enough apart to permit hoeing between. After the danger from insect 

 injuries is over, and about the time the first blossoms appear, the plants 

 should be thinned again to one plant every two feet, on the average; the 

 tendency at this point is to leave the plants too thick, especially if the 

 plants are extra fine. The most advanced plants are selected, which is 

 the cause of the drilled fields usually maturing earlier than the hill planted, 

 and the earlier development usually compensates for the extra cost of the 

 increased amount of seed, and the added labor of thinning. 



The essential points in planting are to get the seed planted at a 

 uniform depth, and at a uniform distance from the irrigation furrow; 

 to have the soil fine and firmed just right, to skillfully conserve and apply 

 moisture, and to keep a crust from interfering with the young seedlings. 



In the arid regions the seed is usually planted about one-half inch 

 deeper than it is expected the plants will come through, in order to hold 

 the moisture line to the seed. When the seed is well sprouted the hills 

 are raked off with a garden rake, removing the crust and any clods that 

 might interfere. Sometimes the field is harrowed across the rows with 

 good results, especially where the rows are drilled in. This matter of 

 "raking off" and keeping the surface fine over the hills is a very import- 

 ant point to be observed in securing a good stand. 



IRRIGATION 



The moisture problem in cantaloupe growing is a very important 

 one. Some times in the humid sections, there is too much water, and it 

 becomes the question of how to save the crop, but little can be said here, 

 except to select well drained fields for the cantaloupes and provide the 

 field with furrows, like the irrigation furrow, to carry off the excess rain 

 water, and to plant on somewhat raised hills or ridges. 



In the arid sections the moisture for the crop as a rule depends on 

 the irrigation furrow, and the skill of the grower to so manipulate the soil 

 and water. Too many look upon irrigation as a simple process of run- 

 ning water through the rows, or over the ground, paying little or no at- 

 tention to the needs or demands, or the dangers of flooding or oversoaking 

 the land. When soil is completely saturated with water, the air is prac- 

 tically all driven out and the soil settles, which defeats the very object 

 and purpose of plowing and the other work of soil preparation, which will 

 dry hard and nothing but frost can ever mellow it as before. 



12 



