82 MELON CULTURE 



bulletin a few sentences concerning remedial meas- 

 ures recommended. " Of course any remedial 

 measures must aim at prevention rather than cure, 

 and must, therefore, be taken before the disease be- 

 comes widespread. Spraying with bordeaux mix- 

 ture is to be commended as a general preventive of 

 this and related melon diseases. Supporting the 

 melons on stones or otherwise to keep them from 

 contact with the soil, and occasional turning, will 

 doubtless give better results than can be secured 

 in any other way. Whenever practicable, irrigation 

 should be practiced in a dry time, to insure uniform 

 and continuous growth and to avoid cracking of the 

 fruit. Diseased melons in a field should be imme- 

 diately removed and destroyed, and the crop should 

 be carefully watched for the first appearance of the 

 rot, in order to keep the organisms from the field as 

 much as possible, since the disease may readily be 

 carried from one melon ,to another by insects. A 

 field in which the rot has been seriously prevalent 

 should not be used the next season for the growth of 

 melons. An interval of at least three years should 

 intervene between melon crops in such cases. Rot- 

 ting melons should not be thrown on the compost 

 heap, or be fed to stock ; or else, in case this is done, 

 compost or manure from such animals should not be 

 used on melon fields. 



" It is probable that little trouble will be experi- 

 enced during a season which is continuously dry. If. 

 however, the entire season is unusually wet, or if 

 heavy rains follow a dry period, the danger is in- 

 creased. Under such conditions, especial care 

 should be exercised in spraying with bordeaux mix- 

 ture and in so supporting and turning the melons 



