FARMERS' REGISTER— RIDGING GROUND FOR MELONS. 



23 



ol" iniusmuta," and consequently the uioi'e violent 

 tlie ellccts arising irom it. We have already 

 mentioned several exanijiles in prod" ol' tlie supe- 

 rior salubrily of" the second stories ot" liouees, mid 

 need not repeat theoi here." ^ 



"The burning of a number of fires so as to dis- 

 perse the malaria, by tiie artificial heat thus crea- 

 ted, has otlcn been used with good e.ffect, in ward- 

 ing oil' its attacks. Heat produced in this Avay, 

 no doubt operates in tlie same manner as the heat 

 of the sun, dilating and rarilying the gas in ques- 

 tion, and foniiing an upward current, by which it 

 is carried oil." 



ON ItlDGING TIIE GIIOUND FOR. MELOIVS. 



From llic XJcnoscc Farmer. 



I read the communication of my worthy friend 

 VV. W. B. on ridging the ground for melons with 

 rcspecttul attention, and have since appraised him 

 that when ready, I would attend to the subject. 

 He suggests tiiat his tailure was " probably in 

 part owing to the season, and partly to the nature 

 of the soil, " with which I acquiesce. The season 

 was remarkably unfavorable to the gTOAvlh of 

 melons. I have inquired of four of our best gar- 

 deners, who have generally been ver}'' successful 

 in this culture, and their answers have all been 

 nearly to the same import: no success, or only a 

 lew melons of inferior size. Their grounds were 

 not ridged. To this testimony, I may add my 

 own; and though I planted in a ridge, my water 

 melons were very few and inferior; but my mush 

 melons were good, and some were truly excellent. 

 I think there can be no doubt that the soil in 

 which melons are cultivated, should allow a quick 

 transit to the wider in rainy weather. I was in- 

 terested with Judge BueVs account of the expe- 

 rijuent of underlaying the bed with straw three 

 ■inches thick. In a late conversation with an ex- 

 cellent iarmer, he remai-ked that he had genemlly 

 been succeiasful in growing melons, Avhenever he 

 had planted on a sod ploughed up and down tlie 

 slope, so that the water could drain oil' under the 

 sod along the botl^om of the furrows. He was 

 careful to apply rich compost, or some equivalent 

 manure to hasten the vegetation of the plants; 

 and he considered this of more consequence, as 

 the earth on a sod ncAvly inverted, is otlen crude 

 and not sufficiently pulverized. 



From the lijliowing communication, written by 

 my esteemed triend Dr. Stephen 3Iosher, at my 

 particular request, — it would appear that melons 

 do best when the stalile manure is mi a mass and 

 covered up with earth. In my ridge it was mix- 

 ed loith the soil: 



" I received yours of the 31st ultimo, request- 

 ing the particulai-s of my success in raising me- 

 lons on mounds and ridges. JMy first trial was on 

 a new piece of sward ground which was plough- 

 ed lor the purpose of ibrming a garden. On this 

 I had drawn three loads of fresh stable manure, 

 whicli was thrown into one heap, and covered 

 with inverted sods to t?ic thickness of six or eight 

 inches, in the iorm and manner of covering a large 

 l)otato hill, which was Avhen finished, )jerhaps liiur 

 leet high, and ten feet in diameter. On four sides 

 about half way to the top, I made fi)ur excava- 

 tions through the turf and into the manure, about 

 eighteen inches in depth and diametci', partly fill- 



ing the holi's with fine rich earth so as to tbrm 

 lour level hills. Iji each of these I planted five 

 or six water melon seeds of what we cull the Car- 

 olinia variety, at the same time that I planted 

 about four square rods of the ground surrounding 

 the heap, at the usual distances, with the same 

 kind of seed. Within three days, the seed on the 

 mound came up and grew most luxuriantly, while 

 those planted in the adjacent ground, did not come 

 up in less than fifteen daj s. During this time, 

 the weather Avas unusually cold lor the season; 

 and though several frosts occurred, yet the plants 

 were not damaged in the least. VVhen those on 

 the level ground came up, pale and sickly, — each 

 of the former had four large green leaA^es. 



" The result A\'as, these lour hills planted on the 

 mound, soon began to nm, and took possession of 

 nearly the Avliole four squa.re rods, against which 

 progress those on the gi-ound made 'but a feeble 

 resistance. And from these four hilis I am sure I 

 had a good Avagon load of as fine melons as I e\'er 

 saw. From one single plant alone I weighed five 

 melons that oA-errun tAventy pounds each^ — one of 

 them Aveighed tAventy-five pounds; and on the 

 same Adne were more than that number of smaller 

 size. The produce of those planted round the 

 heap was small and of little A'alue. 



^'The last season, I A-aried the experiment by 

 digging a trench three feet Avide, eighteen inches 

 in depth, and some rods in length, — throAving the 

 earth out on each side. This trench was filled to 

 the level of the common earth Avith fresh stable 

 manure, as in the first experiment, Avhen it Avas 

 levelled and firmly trodden doAvn. The earth, 

 consisting of a sandy loam, Avas then throAvn back 

 x)n the manure, forming a ridge about a foot in 

 height, gently rounded on the top. Along the 

 middle of this ridge, I planted seed, both of the 

 Avater and mush melon, Avhich came up in about 

 four days, and greA\' luxuriantly, suffering less in 

 dry toeather than jylants in the vicinity on the level 

 ground, and producing an abundant crop of very 

 fine melons. " 



These results are entirely in faA'or of ridging; 

 but of the propriety of treating in that manner 

 such a soil as W. W. B. cultivates, I presume not 

 to judge. That kind of land hoAvever, constitutes 

 but a very small proportion of our country. A heavy 

 loam is the most prevalent, — though sandy tracts, 

 and some of Considerable extent, occur in diflerent 

 places. It may therefore be safe to conclude from 

 the experiments reported, that melons should be 

 planted on mounds or on ridges in nine-tenths of 

 the gardens in the Genesee country. d. t. 



Greatfield, 4 mo. 21, 1834. 



HORSES IN BRAZTI,. 



The great increase of these animals, in a land 

 Avhere none of the same genus had existed before 

 the discover}^, a.ltered ca'cu the ])hysical teatures of 

 thecounIrA'. The bulbous ])lants and the numerous 

 kinds of aloes Q)itas or caraguatas^ Avith Avhich 

 the plains were Ibrmerly OA-erspread, disappeared; 

 and in their place the ground Avas coA-ercd with 

 fine pasturage, and Avith a species of creeping 

 thistle hardy enough to endure the trampling by 

 Avhich the Ibrmer herbage had been destroyed. 

 The insect as well as the vegetable Avorld Avas af- 

 fected, and the indigenous animals of the countiy, 

 birds as avcH as beasts of prey, acquired new 

 habits. — (Sou</it'</'s Brazil. 



