THE MELON" ELY. 



13 



ment that this type of injury causes is readily apparent. Such prun- 

 ing back of the vines, repeated over and again, may prevent the 

 formation of sufficient growth 

 for the development of fruits. 



INJURY TO THE BLOOM. 



Although injury to the seedling 

 plant and to the growing stem is 

 greatest in watermelon and can- 

 taloupe and is of little importance 

 among squashes, cucumbers, and 

 pumpkins, the injury to the 

 bloom is very serious among all 

 these crops except that of the cu- 

 cumber. Among pumpkins and 

 squashes both the male and fe- 

 male blooms are affected; but 

 among the watermelons, canta- 

 loupes, chayotes, and Chinese 

 marrows the male or staminate 

 bloom escapes attack. It is not 

 uncommon to examine luxuri- 

 antly growing fields of squashes 

 and pumpkins during the warm 

 months and not find a single un- 

 affected bloom. Uninformed 

 growers often question why their 

 vines set no fruits. The condi- 

 tion of the blooms illustrated in 

 figures 11 to 14 is the answer. 



The unfertilized ovaries of all 

 cucurbit blooms are especially 

 attractive to female melon flies. 

 The flies lay eggs in the undevel- 

 oped and unfertilized ovaries of 

 the bloom before the blossom un- 

 folds, and the larvae, on hatch- 

 ing, often so ruin the ovaries, 

 as indicated by their burrows 

 shown in figure 12, that the 

 flower never unfolds. In those 

 varieties having long, narrow 

 fruits the ovaries are many times 

 so eaten out and decayed that the weight of the upper part of the bud 

 causes the ovary to break (see fig. 13) . So complete is the destruction 



Fig. 12. — Work of melon-fly larvae in bring 

 ing about destruction of ovaries of 

 pumpkin bloom even before the corolla 

 has entirely withered. 



