20 



NEW ENGLAND JPARMeU, 



August 3, 1S31. 



MELONS. 

 There are but lew iieople who are not fond of 

 good Melons, and yet many neglect to raise them. 

 ehT finer sorts of Muskinelons, such as the Mi- 

 norca, Citron, Pine-Apple, and Green Nntnieg, 

 aro wholly unknown to most of onr farmers, and 

 even many of our j;'ardeners say that tht-y cannot 

 be raised in this latitude in perfection, without the 

 aid of artificial heat. Now this is altogether a 

 mistake. We have seen them as fine in size and 

 flavor, raised in tliis neighliorhood, as in any part 

 Of the world. There are many reasons why peo- 

 ple have the impression, that good melons cannot 

 be raised in this section. First — very few have ta- 

 ken the trouble to obtain good seed, and when 

 they have, a smaller number are acquainted with 

 the best method of training them, and tlie conse- 

 quence has been, that the melons did not ripen 

 until late in the season, when the weather liad be- 

 come cool, and there was not tliat relish for them, 

 that would have been, had they ripened during the 

 warmer part of the season ; for we can can readily 

 conceive that a watermelon at Christmas, would 

 be very much out of place. To ripen melons, 

 early in the season as possible is desirable. For 

 this purpose, those who have it in their power, 

 can hasten their maturation one month, by plant- 

 ing them in a hot bed ; but as this is not always 

 convenient for farmers, we will speak of their 

 treatment in open ground. In the first place, be 

 careful in the selection of seed. Those with 

 green flesh, are of the finest flavor, but do not 

 ripen as soon by a couple of weeks, as some of the 

 coarser kinds, with yellow flesh. The green Nut- 

 meg and Citron, perhaps, are in as great repute 

 for flavor as any, though they are very small, but 

 their exquisite flavor compensates for their want 

 of size. — Most of our vines, as the Pumpkin, Cu- 

 cumber and Melon, thrive best in new strong soils, 

 but the watermelon, on coarse ',sand, made rich, 

 as heat is indispensably necessary to their per- 

 fection, and such soils become much hotter 

 than those that contain large portions of vegetable 

 matter. Uy the term new, we mean g'ounds that 

 have lain in grass, and, not that from which the 

 timber has been lately removed. All have notic- 

 ed how much better Pumpkins thrive in con, fields, 

 the first year after breaking up the sward: there- 

 fore, in planting melons in gardens, if a wheel- 

 barrow load of such soil is placed for each hill, 

 mixed with a suitable quantity of manure from 

 the hog pen, it well repays the exjiense, as in that 



case, thev are not liable to be destroyed by insects I f"" r • i . .i c • r • .1 



,'■'', . • ,. , I- ■ 1 lest part of an mch to three or four melics .'u the 



in the roots. The ripenmg of tl-.e fruit may be ^ 



As it is an object to insure the first setting of 

 the fruit, both on account of ripening early, and 

 its being near the roots of the vine, it is well to 

 go over them, and dust the fruit blossoms artifi- 

 cially. In'doing this, always prefer a male blos- 

 som from the same vine, if you wish to keep your 

 varieties distinct. Having selected a mah? flower 

 that is in perfection, touch the anther carefully to 

 the stigma of the female flower, which is on Hie 

 end of the fruit, by which means the siig-ma will 

 be covered with the |iollen from the male plant ; 

 or it may be apidied by jarring the male flower 

 directly over the female flower, by which a quan- 

 tity of the pollen will be detached and fall upon 

 the stigina, by which the fecundation will be ac- 

 complished. Although these little manoeuvres 

 may seem tedious to those who have not made 

 the experiment, they are easier performed than 

 described and are well worth the attention of 

 every lover of good melons. A vine should not 

 be allowed to ripen more than two or three mel- 

 ons as by increasing the number, the size and 

 flavor of the fruit is materially injured. Water- 

 melons, and cucumbers, are not so regular ill the 

 setting of their fruit, and of course trimming is 

 not so iinportant, but it is well in gardens where 

 tlie vines are exposed to the winds, to give a 

 proper direction to leading Cucumber vines, and 

 fasten them by sticking small hooks over the 

 branches, to confine them to their places, and when 

 the branches become to thick, they should be cut 

 off as for fruit trees.— GeiiMee Farmer. 



Ftom llio New York Farmer. 



SHALLOW SOWING— DEFECT IN HAR- 

 ROWS. 



In nature there is scarcely any other provision 

 made for sowing seed, than by scattering them on 

 the 5«j/acf of the ground principally by the aid of 

 winds. One leading fact may be inferred from 

 this circumstance — that although many seeds 

 sown do not germinate, yet the depth to which 

 those become covered that do grow, must be very 

 inconsiderable. This fact is in accordance with 

 the observation and experiments of agriculturists. 

 They have found that plants which are planted 

 deep come up more slowly and sickly, and jmo- 

 duce less abundantly than those that arc planted 

 at a proper depth. For most kinds of seeds one 

 inch is a sufncient depth ; and in moist favorable 

 j weather half an inch. But the greater part of 

 rain sown in this country varies from the smal- 



most without exception, that all the strongly grow- 

 ing plants were covered with very little earth, and 

 that the seeds of all the weak plants were from one 

 and a half to three inches from the surface. Each 

 had shot out many little roots, and at the same time 

 with the opening of the seed-leaves the coronal 

 knol had formeil itself immediately above the soil ; 

 roots and small shoots richly and strongly, niul 

 quite contemporaneously, and in nearly like pro- 

 portion, sprouted out ; even on the same side 

 where a crown (main ?) root penetrated into the 

 earth arose a new shoot. The broad fresh leaves 

 promised to afibrd much nourishment to the plants 

 from the atmosphere, and ibcr^jby to occasion a. 

 vigorous growth. IIow was it with regard to the 

 more deeply sown seed ? The little roots were 

 few ill number, and' weakly ; from the seed a 

 small whitish pipe, from one to two inches in 

 length, had sprung to the surface : the coronal knot 

 formed itself on the surface, but with only a few 

 meagre leaves, and one solitary ear alone expanded 

 thereon.' 



From the above, it can be readily seen, that 

 harrows in common use do not cover the seed to 



I uniform depth, but on the contrary vary it from 

 the slightest possible covering to that of three or 

 four inches. If the healtli, vigor, and productive- 

 ness of the plant depend so much on the proper 

 depth, wc should suppose it of primary conse- 



pience that no expense be spared in constructing 

 suitable harrows, and bringing the soil to a proper 

 degfree of pulverization and evenness. 



advanced nearly two weeks, by nipping in the 

 leading vines. Rluskmelons produce their fruit, 

 at the axiles of the first leaf of the lateral branch- 

 es. These branches, if the leading liranches are 

 allowed to grow, do not shoot out, until the lead- 

 ers have made growths of considerable length. 

 The leaders are the centre shoots, and one or two 

 of the first branches above the seed leaves; these 

 it will be found upon examination, do not show 



same field. The consequence must be a very 

 great difference in the time of coming up, and in 

 the vigor of the plant. Ou this subject, F. Von 

 Voght, a German writer, thus speaks. 



' I remarked also, that not only in the peasants' 

 fields, but also in mine, the corn always sprang 

 up unequally, and this not only as regarded the 

 length or shortness of the time in which it became 

 visible, but also with respect to the strength and 

 fulness of the [ilant. Hitherto I had ascribed this 

 to inequality in thegerminating power of the seeds, 

 nco seeds sown close together, and under prc- 



fruit at the first leaf. All these leaders should be 



pinched off at the points, as !^oon as they have 



produced about three leaves, which will cause the; ... . 1 ■ u 1 , <• .,1 



I , , . , , ' ,-.1.1 .! cisely the same circumstances, hao brought forth 



lateral or bearing branches, to put tortli at least J _ . . _.--.. 



one vveek sooner than they otherwise would. When 



the bearing branches have put out two loaves be- 

 yond the fruit, they sliould also be nipped off. 

 When the fruit is in flower, they should be exam- 

 ined, as by this method, there will sometimes be 

 n scarcity of male blossoms, and the fruit will drop 

 for want of pollen. 



cry weak and powerful plants. I thoAight also 

 that some disease had hindered the C(^Fn in its 

 unfolding, or that it might have suffered from 

 worms. Turning my attention to the point, in 

 consequence of what Burger said about it, I took 

 up out of many fields plants of the rye and bar- 

 ley, which showed this difl'erence, and found, al- 



TOAD.S. 

 There are few parts of the animal creation that 

 are looked upon with more contempt than toads; 

 and yet they are capable of ministering to the com- 

 fort aii<l convenience of man. One reason why 

 we look upon them with so much contempt is, 

 that we form our opinions of them, as we are too 

 apt to do with our own species, allogciher by out- 

 ward appearances, without inquiring into their 

 good or bad qualities. We confess that there is 

 nothing very inviting in the outward appearance 

 of one of these animals; imt when we make our- 

 selves more acquainted with their habits, our dis- 

 like of them ccasi's, fur in this it is as in politics — 

 we lauil that man who is working for us, whom 

 wo would treat with contempt in another situation. 

 Toads, during the summer months feed almost 

 entirely upon insects, and in the ordinary course of 

 their feeding the number destroyed is quite con- 

 siderable. Mr Bradley, in his Treatise on Husband- 

 ry and Gardening, .«tates that, a pair of sparrows, du- 

 ring the time they have their young, destroy 3,360 

 caterpillars each week, or 240 for each bird dailj'. 

 Now if we make coin[iararison between the size of 

 a toad and a sparrow, and allow that a given 

 weight of either requires a given quantity of food 

 for a certain period, we must supjiose that the 

 number of insects devoured by toads is very great. 

 We have frequently seen it recommended to put 

 toads in gardens to preserve young cucumber 

 plants from the striped bug. They are not effect- 

 ual for that iinrpose, as the bug does most damage 

 during the heat of the day; at which time the 

 toad either burrows himself in the ground, or seeks 

 some other retreat from the rays of the sun. 



They are, however, very useful at the same 

 time for other purposes. The brown worms 

 which destroy the cabbage plants, do their mis- 

 chief in the night, at which time the toads are on 



