REMOVING MALE BLOSSOMS 25 



It will be noted thai the experiment shows little if any gain. 

 In fact, if the time required in executing the work be taken 

 into consideration the experiment would indicate a loss; espe- 

 cially i> this indicated in row "D" Row * k B," where both the 

 main vine and lateral- were nipped, shows better returns, but 

 even here the work necessitated is more than in row "D." 



The conclusion points to there being little if any gain from 

 pinching or heading-in the muskmelon when grown out of 

 doors. 



EXPERIMENT XO. V 



REMOVING MALE BLOSSOMS 



The fact that there is such an abundance of the staminate 

 flowers and that they appear so long in advance of the pistillate 

 or perfect ones lends an air of mystery as to their usefulness. 



The following experiment was undertaken to see if by re- 

 moving the staminate flowers any effect could be noticed in the 

 production of fruit. Row "A" Table III, was selected for 

 this experiment and the row was daily gone over, except in 

 rainy weather, until August 18. 



The exact number of flowers was not counted, but under 

 ordinary conditions from 150 to 300 of these staminate flowers 

 were picked daily from the ten hills. The results, as indicated 9 

 in Table III, show that this row ("A") gave the largest yield 

 both as to number and average weight of fruit. When we 

 take into consideration the great amount of labor necessitated, 

 however, it cannot be recommended as practical. 



EXPERIMENT XO. VI 



NEW FOREIGX VARIETY 



We were fortunate in getting from the United States depart- 

 ment of agriculture samples of muskmelon seeds from each of 

 the now introductions included in •"Inventory Xo. 1"*: "For- 



eign Seeds and Plants/*' 



