THE WATERMELON. 233 



soil, by means of hoe, spade, or digging-fork. The hoe, 

 although not so effective, is the more expeditious tool 

 in the hands of negro laborers. Green stable manure 01 

 any other kind that is fermenting, or heating, is not 

 suitable for melons on light land. If in place of the 

 above, a compost of muck or woods-earth with cotton- 

 seed meal or fish guano is used, the quantity should be 

 two shovelfuls, containing about one pound of the meal 

 or guano. When manure is plentiful enough, it may be 

 applied in the drill or even broadcast, notwithstanding 

 the distances of the plants, for most of the roots of 

 the melon plant are long surface roots. Manured only in 

 the hill, the plant derives less benefit from the fertilizer. 



SOWING THE SEED. 



A flat hill, elevated two or three inches above the general 

 surface, is made over the manure with the removed surface 

 soil, and in the middle of each the first sowing of from six 

 to ten seeds is made, one or two inches deep, according to 

 the nature and degree of moisture of the soil. As in 

 the case of cucumbers, I make two more sowings at in- 

 tervals of a week, putting in three or four seeds at each, at 

 which rate it will require from two and one-half to three 

 pounds of seed per acre. A temperature of about sixty- 

 five degrees is required to sprout melon seed ; and there is 

 rarely anything gained in this crop by making the sow- 

 ings too early, as cold weather, even without frost at 

 night, will give the plants a check from which they 

 will never recover sufficiently to produce a good crop. 

 While melon seeds may be planted in the middle of 

 Florida, in January and February, March 15th is quite 

 early enough for the first planting in the latitude of 

 Savannah, and, of course, later further North. 



CULTIVATION. 



If the first sowing has failed, or the plants have been 

 killed or injured by cold, it is best to await the growth 



