460 GARDEN FARMING 



later cultivation by a thorough destruction of the weeds and the 

 maintenance of a good soil mulch during the early growing season. 

 At the last cultivation cowpeas are often scattered thinly to act as 

 a windbreak to vines and to serve as a partial shade to the fruits 

 later in the season. 



Insects and diseases. Fortunately the watermelon is not troubled 

 to any great extent by diseases, except in certain localities where 

 it has been under cultivation on the same soil for a number of years. 

 In such cases it is frequently affected with the wilt disease, which 

 destroys the vines. The remedy for this trouble is to rotate the 

 crop, placing it on soil which has not previously been used for 

 watermelon production for at least four or five years. 



The one insect to whose attacks the watermelon is subject is the 

 striped beetle, known as the striped cucumber beetle, which, soon 

 after the plants appear above the ground, is very annoying and 

 quite destructive. One reason for using a large number of seeds 

 to the hill is to guard against total loss by the ravages of this 

 insect. Large numbers of plants are better able to withstand their 

 onslaughts than are a few plants, and for this reason planters 

 usually anticipate trouble by using a large quantity of seed. 



In cases where it is not considered too expensive, the same 

 remedy suggested in the case of the squash may be resorted to ; 

 that is, the use of frames 18 inches square and about 4 inches 

 deep, covered with cloth or with thin goods of some kind, such as 

 mosquito netting or wire netting, for the protection of the young 

 plants. These give satisfactory protection, but are too expensive 

 and cumbersome for extensive commercial use. Perhaps the cheap- 

 est and most easily handled guard is the square of mosquito netting 

 suggested in the chapter on the squash. By placing a small stake 

 6 or 8 inches high in the center of a hill and dropping the cloth 

 over the top of this so as to form a miniature tent and fastening 

 the edges with earth, the plants can be cheaply and successfully 

 protected from insects. 



Where it is desirable to use insecticides rather than preventive 

 means for the treatment of such pests, nothing is better than 

 tobacco dust or tobacco fertilizer. Tobacco dust is the sweepings 

 from cigar factories, and the tobacco fertilizer is a commercial 

 product which consists of ground stems of the leaves. This is a 



