298 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



is ricked up in the fall in long low piles, about eight feet wide and 

 two or three feet deep. The sides of the pile are made as nearly per- 

 pendicular as possible and the top is flattened so that rains will soak 

 in instead of running off. Sometimes a layer of dirt about three 

 inches deep is placed on top of the manure to help retain the mois- 

 ture. Early in the spring, work is commenced on the manure to put 

 it in condition for use. The pile must be cut down and the manure 

 turned and mixed until it is thoroughly decomposed and of fine tex- 

 ture. Formerly this work was done by hand with a fork, and en- 

 tailed a large amount of labor. Now some of the large growers do 

 all this turning of the manure with a disk and plow. The pile is 

 worked three or four times at intervals of one or two weeks. 



Time of Planting. The melon is a warm season crop, and un- 

 less the soil is warm and the weather favorable the seeds will not 

 germinate nor the plants grow. It is therefore usually unwise to 

 plant in advance of the normal season in the hope of securing an 

 early crop. Occasionally, such plantings do well, but usually the 

 stand is poor, necessitating much replanting, and the early plants 

 which do survive are likely to be so badly stunted by reason of the 

 cool weather that they do not mature their crop much in advance of 

 the later plantings which have had the benefit of warm weather from 

 the start. 



Preparations for Planting. Melon ground should be plowed 

 early in the spring, or replowed if it was broken in the fall. After 

 plowing, it should be thoroughly pulverized by the use of a disk or 

 harrow, or both, and then kept in good, friable condition by occa- 

 sional working until planting time arrives. Shortly before planting 

 is to begin, the field should be furrowed out both ways with a single- 

 shovel plow or a one-horse turning plow. The furrows should be 

 about six inches deep, and as far apart as the hills are to be placed. 

 On some soils melon vines make only a moderate growth and the 

 hills may be planted as close as four feet apart each way ; but on rich 

 soil, where they make a stronger growth, they should be at least five 

 by five, and in some cases six by six. After the land is furrowed out 

 the rotted manure is applied at the intersections of the furrows. 

 From, a quart to a half-peck of manure is used for each hill, depend- 

 ing upon the quality of the manure and also the quantity available. 

 The manure is dropped into the bottom of the furrow, and either 

 mixed thoroughly with the soil there, and covered with a layer of 

 pure soil in which to plant the seed, or is merely covered with the soil 

 without any mixing. The latter method seems to give fully as good 

 results as the former, especially when a small quantity of manure is 

 used, and is a great saving of labor. In either case, especial care 

 should be taken to compact the soil over the manure so that when the 

 seed is planted it will not suffer from lack of moisture by reason of 

 any vacant air space in or about the mass of manure. Sometimes the 

 manure is covered with soil by merely plowing a furrow on each side 

 of the furrow containing the manure, but unless the soil is in exceed- 

 ingly fine condition, this method is not as satisfactory as using a hoe 

 and giving each hill individual attention. In making the hill, some 



