HOME GARDENING 241 



Place the sod, bottom side up, in a shallow box of wood 

 or pasteboard; if the earth is not thick enough, add 

 a few handfuls of good mealy soil. Plant about six 

 or eight seeds in this soil. Place in a sunny window 

 and keep warm and moist. 



This will constitute the first part of the lesson, but 

 the germinating seeds will keep up the interest in the 

 experiment for many days. When the green seed leaves 

 have freed themselves from the shell, notice which are 

 the thriftiest plants, and remove all but the best two. 

 Care for these tenderly, and they will thrive well, free 

 from frost and the striped beetle. They may safely 

 acquire three or four true leaves, and be five or six 

 inches tall, before they are planted out of doors. 



"When the warm late May days come, dig holes about 

 eight inches deep and six feet apart in the sunniest 

 part of the garden; put in the bottom of each hole a 

 spadeful of old well-rotted manure; cover this with 

 two inches of sand or fine soil; and on this place the 

 sod with the growing melons, so gently that they will 

 not know they have been moved. The sod should be 

 level with the ground, and well firmed in place. See 

 that the plants never suffer from thirst. Keep the 

 weeds pulled, and stir the surface soil about the hill 

 often until the vines begin to run. 



When each vine has set about a half dozen melons, 

 pinch off all blossoms that form, and also the tips of 

 the branches, so that all plant food may go into the 

 melons first chosen. 



