l86 PRIZE GARDENING 



crop he chose muskmelons, as they would not injure 

 the trees. A row of melons was carried between every 

 two rows of peaches, also a hill between the trees in 

 the rows. Spring tooth harrows and cultivators were 

 found best for working such rocky land. Five loads 

 of manure were used and one hundred pounds fertilizer. 

 The plants were started in a cold frame from seed 

 planted April 2^. '' Another year," writes Mr. Hinds, 

 '' I should start my seeds two weeks earlier, say April 

 12, SO as to get the melons all ripened by the middle of 

 September. When the first cold days come, people 

 stop buying, and there is no fun or profit in peddling 

 fruit when people don't want it. I should also use 

 more chemical fertilizer another time." 



Cutworms were poisoned with a little paris green 

 and molasses mixed with eight quarts bran. The crop 

 was peddled out, but was accounted at wholesale prices, 

 and the total was one hundred and forty dollars and 

 eighty-four cents. Charge was made for care of trees 

 and credit allowed for their improvement The net 

 profit was thirty-seven dollars and four cents. 



Testing the Soil. — A large handful of soil was 

 taken from each of three places in the garden of E. R. 

 Flagg of Massachusetts, and a test for acidity made 

 with blue litmus paper. For this purpose a tiny book- 

 let containing twenty-four slips of blue litmus paper, 

 each about two and one-half inches long and one-half 

 inch wide, was procured from a wholesale druggist for 

 five cents. A little of the earth was placed in a cup 

 and made into a thick paste by the addition of water. 

 Then one end of a strip of litmus paper was pushed 

 into the mud in the cup with the handle of a spoon, 

 care being taken not to touch the paper with the moist 

 fingers lest the color be changed thereby. The paper 

 was allowed to remain in the mud for three minutes, 

 when it was removed, the adhering mud rinsed off with 



