No. 4.] CANTALOUPE GROWING. 181 



sting its stem and sap its leaves, nor the wind that would 

 wrench and twist its deUcate stem, nor the heat and drought 

 that would burn the soil and make it too dry for the infant 

 feed roots to take their first taste of food and drink, and to 

 reach out into the surrounding soil for the nourishment for 

 which the tiny plant above ground is waiting. 



Hoeing at this time will do more good than at any other 

 in the life of the plants. It mulches them and protects 

 their scant roots. The drawing of the soil up around the 

 plants braces them against destructive winds, while working 

 about the hills tends to scare away the striped beetle, which 

 is very timid. The hoe must be used with great care, how- 

 ever, on account of the shallowness of the roots. 



Fertilizing. 



Barnyard manure seems to offer the best and safest means 

 of feeding the melon plant. Variation in opinion as to the 

 method of application is wide. Manuring in the hill is the 

 most common practice, and under irrigation or elsewhere 

 where there is plenty of water it is the most economical 

 way. But if one's crop must suffer each summer from 

 drought, that effect will undoubtedly be aggravated by a 

 lot of coarse manure in the hill. This is especially clear 

 when we recall that chemically all decaying is burning, dif- 

 fering only from the burning of fire in its slower action. 

 Thus you create a little drought of your own under each 

 hill, a wholly unnecessary provision in recent years in 

 Massachusetts. 



This drying-out process is augmented by the fact that the 

 thick pad of manure tends to retard capillary movement of 

 water from below. Therefore, if the manuring in the hill 

 plan is to be followed, the manure should be thoroughly 

 mixed with the soil. Considering our dry summers, the 

 writer prefers scattering the manure along a furrow and 

 working it into the soil with a spiked-toothed cultivator set 

 as narrow as possible. We sometimes do this in the fall. 

 Broadcasting the manure is certainly as good a way as any 

 except that it takes so much manure. 



It may be well to add that most of those who have ex- 

 perimented carefully recommend manuring in the hill; but 



