412 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 293 



ever practicable, should be attempted. But where this is 

 not possible, the proper husbanding of soil-water is a matter 

 of commanding importance in the practice of agriculture or 

 horticulture. Inasmuch as no food can be taken by the 

 roots of a plant until it is dissolved in water, we cannot 

 study the subject too closely, and before we can adopt a 

 thoroughly rational basis for different methods of cultiva- 

 tion, we have much to learn on such points as the amount 

 of water needed to produce a pound of dry matter in any 

 crop, the storage capacity of different soils, the laws con- 

 trolling the movement of ground water, the root systems 

 of different crops, and the lateral and vertical extent 

 through which they feed. 



The Benton Harbor Melon Industry. 



"D ATHER more than sixty miles north-east of Chicago, upon 

 ■•^ the Michigan shore of the lake, lie St. Joseph and Benton 

 Harbor upon opposite sides of the St. Joseph River. The re- 

 gion about these towns has long been famous for its fruit. It 

 is the oldest commercial peach region in Michigan, and one of 

 the oldest in the west. It was here that the yellows appeared 

 many years ago, and finally destroyed the peach industry. 

 Then a most diversified horticulture arose, largely devoted 

 to berries and grapes, and the region is now one of the 

 most interesting of the horticuhural tributaries of Chicago. 

 During the last twenty years an extensive truck-gardening in- 

 dustry has been established here. The chief crops, in the order 

 of their commercial importance, are muskmelons, tomatoes, 

 early turnips, and asparagus, while potatoes, beans and many 

 early garden crops are grown extensively. 



The most instructive feature of the muskmelon industry 

 here is the origination of the melon now widely known as the 

 Osage. I have never seen a better example of the confusing 

 effects of a cross, and the progressive influence of selection, 

 than is afforded by the development of this melon under the 

 hands of Mr. Roland Morrill. In 1872, Mr. Morrill, who was 

 quite ignorant of farming, began to raise melons, and planted 

 the crop at a venture, upon rented land. The year before, a 

 neighbor, William Rose, had grown a few melons for market, 

 and this was the first attempt at growing melons commer- 

 cially about Benton Harbor. Miller's Cream, a long smooth 

 variety of good quality, was the melon then cultivated. It 

 lacked in shipping qualities and some other particulars, and 

 the few persons who had become interested in the subject 

 looked for another variety. About this time the seeds of a 

 melon grown in the country along the Osage River, in Kansas, 

 were brought to Benton Harbor. This melon was black-green, 

 with a very thick, sweet, yellow flesh, and had great value, but 

 it was small and round. A natural cross was made between 

 the two varieties by Mr. Rose and Mr. Morrill by planting the 

 two kinds of melons together. From the product Mr. Morrill 

 carefully selected seed-melons, having in mind an ideal type. 

 He had no thought at that time of originating a new melon, 

 but rather of improving upon the old ones. To get earliness 

 the stock was again crossed with Christiana, a round, netted, 

 good melon, but having flesh which breaks down, or becomes 

 soft, in shipping. The new type was desired, above all, to be 

 solid and durable, to have a thin rind, protected with a mod- 

 erate netting, and to be egg-shaped, for easy and pleasant 

 handling, packing and eating. Even now, five years after this 

 new rnelon has been introduced under the name of Osage, 

 Mr. Morrill selects his seed-melons from every wagon-load 

 which comes to the packing-shed with a minuteness of inspec- 

 tion which would astonish any ordinary gardener. If a melon 

 is too long or is yellow in the channels, it is too near Miller's 

 Cream ; if rounded and dark and inclined to be small, it is too 

 near the original Osage ; if it tends to yellow up in ripening or 

 is heavily netted, it has too much Christiana in it. Its weight 

 indicates its solidity and carrying qualities, and a typical Osage 

 should weigh four pounds. Thus, a pile of melons, which 

 looks to the visitor to be remarkably uniform, yields a dozen 

 secrets of parentage and bad blood to the practiced eye, and it 

 is remarkable how firmly those old crosses have impressed 

 themselves upon the offspring. All this illustrates the law, 

 which is so often forgotten, that careful and long-continued 

 selection is the one potent factor in the amelioration of plants. 

 Crossing simply starts off new variations, and years of patient 

 effort may be required to establish any one of them. The 

 operator must have an exact and unvarying ideal in his mind, 

 to which he works uniformly year by year. It is not enough 

 that he selects good products, but he must have the precise 



shape, size, color, and other characteristics of an ideal in his 

 mind continually. 



In 1888, Mr. Morrill sold the first seeds of the new melon to 

 Mr. J. C. Vaughan, who introduced it. It had previously been 

 called the Osage in the Milwaukee market. It is a delicious 

 melon, and as I ate it at Benton Harbor I thought it the best I 

 have ever known. Its flesh is remarkably firm, thick and 

 sugary, and lacks entirely that soft, fibrous and mushy texture 

 of the Montreal Market, Hackensack and other popular varie- 

 ties. The flesh is edible almost to the exterior, and upon the 

 under side it would stand paring down to the thinnest rind. 

 For a melon of its size and weight, the interior cavity must, of 

 course, be very small, and this is one of its strong points as a 

 shipper. These opinions, formed where the Osage is at home, 

 may need some modifying in other places ; but whether the 

 difference in melons ot different regions comes from differ- 

 ences in soil or climate, or management, or in the seed, I can- 

 not say. Mr. Morrill is sure that some of the Osage melon- 

 seed stock which has been sold is not true to type. 



Melon-growing is now a large industry in this region. The 

 melon land so far developed all lies north of the St. Joseph 

 River, back of Benton Harbor. It extends from three to fifteen 

 miles inland from the lake. The ideal melon land is a strong 

 gravelly loam, and if it lies somewhat low and fiat so much 

 the better, provided it is well drained, During the melon sea- 

 son just closed about 4,000 boxes and nearly as many baskets 

 were shipped from the one port every day. The boxes are 

 supposed to measure one bushel. These are really crates 

 with three pieces of 12 x 12 inch heading, and are 20 inches 

 long, the bottom being a solid piece, the sides and tops each 

 comprising three slats. The material costs five cents a box 

 "in the flat," and seventy-five cents a hundred to make up, 

 and each box consumes half a cent's worth of nails. When 

 filled, the boxes are supposed to weigh fifty pounds. Osage 

 and Hackensack melons are packed in these boxes, and from 

 twelve to sixteen Osage fill a box. The Netted Gem, which is 

 considerably grown, is shipped in half-bushel Climax baskets. 

 Although this enormous crop now finds market, usually at 

 remunerative prices, none of the growers had ever sold all 

 they grew until Mr. Morrill did so in 1881. 



The Osage melon is somewhat more difficult to grow than 

 Christiana and other sorts, for it requires strong soil or liberal 

 fertiUzing, and the young plants are tender, Mr. Morrill sows 

 his seed about the 15th of April. Two or three seeds are 

 planted in a "plant-box," which is a box made of basket ma- 

 terial, at the basket-factories in Benton Harbor. The box is a 

 five-inch cube. These are made cheaply and are used only 

 once, being left upon the ground in the field when the plants 

 are taken from them, where they decay in a year's time. This 

 box is partly filled with good compost, which is tamped, and 

 the space above is then filled with woods-earth, in which the 

 seeds are planted. These boxes are placed in cold frames, 

 and when the plants are well established all but one are re- 

 moved from each box. About the 20th of May the plants are 

 set in the field, only one plant going in each hill. At this time 

 the plants should have developed two or three runners to the 

 length of one to three inches, and the first (staminate) flower 

 should be about ready to open. The least distance apart at 

 which the Osage is planted is five by five feet, but Mr. Morrill 

 produces better melons by giving more room, and he thinks 

 that seven by seven feet may yet be found to be the ideal dis- 

 tance. The land should not have been cropped with melons the 

 previous year, and it is well to plow under a Clover sod for the 

 melon crop. Mr. Morrill showed me a large field upon which 

 a very heavy growth of Mammoth Clover is standing, all of which 

 is to be turned under for the benefit of next year's melon crop. 

 It is a common practice to apply a shovelful of manure to 

 each hill, but more permanent and uniform results are ob- 

 tained when the fertilizer is applied broadcast. The most pop- 

 ularfertilizer is stable-manure, after which come commercial 

 fertilizers and home-mixed preparations. Sheep and hog 

 manure from the Chicago stock-yards is delivered in Benton 

 Harbor for $1.00 per ton. If the land is in good tilth, it is 

 necessary to hoe the crop only once or twice ; but the culti- 

 vator must be run from four to eight times, and after the vines 

 have covered the ground, the large weeds must be pulled. 

 The Osage melon begins to ripen the first week in August, 

 four or five days later than the Early Hackensack. Landreth's 

 Extra Early Citron Melon, which is now called Early Jewell by 

 some growers, is three weeks ahead of Osage, but it is inferior 

 in quality. The melons are ripe when they part freely from 

 the stem, and the operation of picking consists in pressing off 

 the stem with the thumb. 



The harvesters pick the melons in bushel-baskets and carry 

 them to the edge of the plantation, or to the various cross- 



