64 EXrERIMEXT STATION. [Jan. 



trouble at present aijpcars to Ije merely incidcnital, attacking the 

 weakened stems at the surface of the ground; but further oIj- 

 servations on this point are necessary. 



Sunlight constitutes the best factoi' for hardening up tissue, 

 and the degree of resistance of the stems to disease coincides 

 with the amount of light they receive. Besides sunlight, plenty 

 of air is needed for the hardening of tissue, and if more atten- 

 tion were given by cucumber growers to adapting their plants to 

 external conditions, healthier and stockier plants would be pro- 

 duced. On cloudy days the night and day temperatures should 

 be lower than on bright, sunshiny days, and in this way the new 

 tissue, as well as the old, becomes hardened, and is less suscepti- 

 ble to attacks from various organisms. 



Lettuce growers are always very careful to lower the day tem- 

 peratures in cloudy weather, whereas in periods of sunshine 

 higher temperatures are maintained. They force their plants, 

 to be sure, but use the greatest judgment in doing it. whereas 

 cucumber growers, as a rule, pay little or no attention to outside 

 conditions. 



Experiments are now under way for the further study of this 

 trouble, and various treatments will be tried. 



There have recently been reported from other States serious 

 troubles affecting outdoor crops of melons and cucumbers, char- 

 acterized by wilting and dying of the plants. Serious loss was 

 reported in Rhode Island the past sunmier resulting from some 

 blight. F. L. Stewart has described a serious blight of melons 

 occurring in Xew York State, ^ and L. R. Jones has described 

 a bacterial blight in "\''ermont.^ Both of these blights are differ- 

 ent from the one described above. 



Our attention has often been called to the cracking or split- 

 ting of melons in the fall. This occurs on mature, ripe melons, 

 and in our opinion it is caused by the absorption of water by the 

 fruit. When melons are lying on the ground the water some- 

 times gains entrance to the blossom end of the fruit, causing an 

 increased turgescence of the inner tissues which exerts such a 

 pressure on the fi-uit that it cracks. "We have been able to pro- 



' Cioneva, N. Y., Agrioviltural Experiment Station, Technical Bulletin No. 0, 1009. 

 ' Vermont .Agricultural Experiment Station, Rulletin No. 148, 1910. 



