CHAPTER XXV 

 THE VINE CROPS 



Melons, cucumbers, squashes, and pumpkins form a natural 

 group of crops that are much aUke in manner of growth and in 

 general cultural requirements. All are warm season crops easily 

 injured by frost, yet with a sufficiently short period of growth 

 so that, even though the seeds are not planted until after the frosts 

 of spring are over, the plants are usually able to mature their 

 product before the frosts of autumn in all except northern localities. 

 0\\dng to this fact and also the difficulty with which the plants 

 are transplanted, these crops are usually grown from seed planted 

 in the open ground. However, for the sake of growing an early 

 crop or in northern localities where the season is short, they are 

 sometimes transplanted. In the transplanting, extreme care 

 must be taken to avoid disturbing the roots. (See chapter on 

 transplanting.) 



The vine crops are usually planted in hills, and, unless the soil 

 is very rich, it is customary to apply manure or fertilizer to the 

 individual hills. Nearly all these crops grow slowly at the start 

 and need special attention to stimulate their growth and protect 

 them from insect attacks. The object of manuring in the hill is 

 to encourage rapid growth. Hand tillage close to the plants is 

 an aid to the same end, as is also protection from the striped 

 beetle, which attacks all these crops indiscriminately, though it 

 is perhaps the worst on cucumbers and is therefore called the 

 striped cucumber beetle (Fig. 129). 



Striped Beetles.* — These small yellow and black beetles may 

 be expected every year, though the severity of the attack varies 

 greatly in different seasons and different places. Usually the 

 plants are attacked as soon as they appear above the ground, and, 

 unless prompt treatment is given, the plants will be severely 

 injured; if the attack is severe, the entire plantation may be 

 destroyed. Since the insects feed mainly upon the under side 

 of the seed leaves and on the stems, the application of a material 



* This account of striped beetles and most of the material on muskmelons 

 in the present chapter were pubUshed by the author in Circular 139 of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. 



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