1970 



WATERMELON 



on a large scale. The following fonnula ivill be found 



to be well adapted to the average soil : 



Lbs. 



Nitrate of soda 500 



High grade supei-phosphate 1,200 



Sulfate of potash (or muriate of potash) 300 



2,000 

 This is rather a high grade formula and will analyze: 



Nitrogen (ammonia equivalent 4.0 percent) 3.3 



Phosphoric acid (available) 8.4 



Potash (KaO) 7.5 



It may be used advantageously at the rate of from 

 400 to 800 lbs. per acre; the maximum amount, how- 

 ever, will rarely be justified. An extra finish of nitrate 

 of soda— say a thimbleful per hill— applied just after 

 the plants are well up, will give them a good start. 



Planting is performed by hand and tlie seed put in 

 quite shallow. Seeds should not be spared. Field mice, 

 pigeons, poultry, crows, cockroaches and other depre- 

 dators frequently prevent a perfect stand where but 

 few seed are used, and tlie time lost thereby, when re- 

 planting is necessitated, can never be regained. Twenty 

 seeds to the hill is not too many— preferablv rather 

 more than less — each seed'pushed down separately into 

 the mellow soil with the forefinger to the depth of an 

 inch or less. They should on no account be placed 

 deeper. This forces the marauding agency— whatever 

 it may be — to discover and destroy each seed in succes- 

 sion, which gives some a chance to escape; whereas, if 

 planted together in a mass, so soon as the pocket was 

 found the seed would all be scattered or devoured at 

 once. The process of planting as described seems slow 

 and laborious, but it really takes much less time than 



2720. The Prescrvine Wi 



its details indicate. ,On dry soil, during a time of 

 drought, it is sometimes necessary to put a "hoe-dab" 

 of earth on each hill, after planting, to serve as a mulch 

 and to induce germination. This is removed before the 

 cotyledons of the young plants appear. 



In addition to starting under glass and transferring 

 to paper (Neponset) pots, in order to have the young 

 plants ready for permanent plantiiic- n- s..i.i) n'i all dan- 

 ger of frost is over, the growtli -i il,. >,,,, :,ft,.r final 

 transplanting, may be forceil i ' .. :iiis. A 



section of small sewer-pipe or t: .id.d per- 



pendicularly in the hill and niirlnl. .lt:,iiLlii- ,,f water 

 (liquid manure, if desired, weak.'witli a solution of 

 phosphates) fed the plant. This stimulates rapid 

 growth in early spring and development of root sur- 

 face. When acid phosphate is used in solution, the 

 fruit is also said to increase rapidly in size, quantity 

 and quality. Careful thinning to one or two melons per 

 vine will also hasten their growth and development. 



"Christmas" melons — should any one care for as cold 

 cheer at that season — may be had by selecting a thick- 

 rinded variety, as Kolb Gem, planting late in June, 

 handling carefully when pulled, and storing in some 

 dry, yielding substance, like cottonseed hulls, in a cool 



the first 



WATERMELON 



cellar where the temperature is uniform and can never 

 drop below freezing. 



After the plants are up they are at first thinned down 

 to three or four to the hill, and subsequently to one, or 

 at most two. One vigorous root system, well attended 

 to, will usually succeed in extracting from the soil as 

 much plant-food as will two, and will give a better 

 account of it, also, on "settling day." 



Cultivation is commenced early and should cease 

 early. It is effected with either the five-toothed or 

 eleven-toothed cultivator or with scooter and "heel- 

 rape," and shoulil invariably be shallow, except for 

 "f'l-r planting, when the middles are 

 custonjanly "run i.ul " with a turn-plow or "twister." 

 "Laying l)y." or the cessation of cultivation, should 

 occur as soon as the vines cover the ground well. Vines 

 are never turned at any stage, if it can be avoided, and 

 under no circumstances after "laying by." Nor is the 

 land ever plowed in the early forenoon. To prevent the 

 wind from rolling and tumbling the vines, a thin broad- 

 casting of cow-peas is usually made at the last plowing. 

 They serve also, later, to partially shade the melons 

 and leave the soil in excellent condition for the next 

 crop. 



Marketing.— laarge areas for shipment are always 

 located directly on some line of railroad -if possible, 

 with a spur or side-track into the plantation. The 

 heaviest servitude attached to melon culture is the 

 initial haul, which should invariably be on springs. A 

 mile's jolt in a spriugless vehicle discounts profits 

 more severely than a thousand-mile journey, subse- 

 quently, in a ventilator car- the mode of shipment now 

 almost exclusively employed where a water route is not 

 convenient. Profits also largely depend on two other 

 considerations: judicious and severe culling, and the 

 proper selection of a market. The fir.st measure cannot 

 be practiced too severely. Undersized fruit is unsal- 

 able, and the car-load average is invariably gauged by 

 the smallest melons it contains, as the strength of a 

 chain is measured by its weakest link. Nothing under 

 sixteen pounds shou'ld ever leave tl>e field, and it would 

 be better to limit the minimum weight to twenty pounds. 

 Anything over thirty pounds ranks as large, over forty 

 quite large, and melons re.iching fifty pounds are of 

 the first rank, although it is not nnci.nimou to meet with 

 • s (>f sixty, seventy or even eighty pounds, 

 "isioiK.lly a i>lien()iiienally liig one tops tlie hun- 



"HHiallyl attained tin- weif;ht of 124 pounds. 

 - v'n.wii II. ar lic.-atiir, lia., some twenty vears 

 M.I.. il,.^ rMal,liv|,,.,i "Mflon Belt." 

 li'i"-. Ill' -iiiall.r 111. Inns should occupy the 

 '!"■ '■■■II'. "I'll III.- larf,'.T forming the upper tiers 

 !■ 111., piirp..^.' .,r .l.ception or for the sake of 

 i.'i', but because the smaller sizes better with- 

 Iting and pressure and there is also less loss if 



e inijiortance of avoiding glutted markets is 

 iriiit, anil tin- judicious selection of his point of 

 snipnifiit niiaiis t.. ili,- grower success or failure, it 

 follows that slii|,|.iii^r associations are almost an alisolute 

 necessity -tl r.lim.iv planter who depends on his in- 

 dividual i :.'_-! ,, It , ,:. rally "ir..iiij.' t.. the wail." The 

 "Shipj..!^ I ■ I ■ . V. r. ai-.' ii-iiallv able to cope 



successiii I , . :..!,!. . Ill an. 1 maiia-e todistribute 



thesea-.! ■ ;., . ; li.' .■..untiv in sw.-li manner as to 



leave a Iimiiu i.i..r,i i., il,... planter. Vet the industry is 

 now by no nieans so remunerative as formerly. Supply 

 seems to more than equal demand, and great complaint 

 is made by the grower of excessive freight charges, 

 while the transportation lines insist that their rates at 

 present figures are m.t pr.ilital.li-. And yet the grower 

 .still continues t.. i.laiit Ins unions, the railroads to 

 haul, and the pul.li.- t.. piinliasi- them! 



Affections and h; i„, ,li, s.-Aftvr a stand is once ob- 

 tained— spontaneously and promptly — and this, when 

 all is said, is perhaps the main problem underlving suc- 

 cessful melon culture-its affections are comparatively 

 few and simple. Indeed, the Watermelon mav be said 

 to be free from any vital disease, and its maladies are 

 almost entirely confined to those resulting from the at- 

 tacks of a few insect pests, as follows: 



1. The melon worm { Margaronia liyalinata).~A 



If-ann 



