270 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



furrow of forty rods. The cantaloupe may be given 

 too much water, but the plants should be kept growing 

 rapidly by a moderate application and a great deal of 

 cultivation until the vines cover the ground. When 

 the fruit is ripening the supply should be limited in 

 order to make the fruit of the best quality and to have 

 it ripen quickly. Irrigations may be given during the 

 picking season when necessary, and should not cease 

 when the melons begin to ripen, as some have said. 

 The most important work of growing cantaloupes 

 comes after the crop begins to ripen, and experience 

 alone will teach growers the proper condition at which 

 the melons should be picked, the best way of packing, 

 and the easiest and best method of getting them to the 

 cars and loaded in good condition. Cantaloupes thrive 

 best on sandy loam, although clay loam with some 

 sand will grow melons of good quality. The virgin 

 soil of our western prairies will produce the best qual- 

 ity, providing the ground is well worked and 

 thoroughly soaked. It takes more water, however, 

 than older land. Three years is long enough to plant 

 melons on the same ground. It should then be planted 

 to some fertilizing crop, and alfalfa is splendid for this 

 purpose. 



Pumpkins. — For a pumpkin patch choose a light 

 soil. A sandy piece of bottom is just the thing, the 

 richer the better, though comparatively poor soil will 

 do. After plowing and harrowing lay off in check 

 rows ten feet each way. At each check dig a small 

 hole and put in one or two forkfuls of manure, or 

 throw out a double furrow with the plow and then 

 put the manure in the checks. The pumpkin is a 



