38 MELON CULTURE 



instead of being recessed. These are placed side by 

 side in the bottom of the hotbed and are filled with 

 finely prepared earth or compost. Great care is 

 taken with the material for the seed bed, and it is 

 frequently worked over before being used. The 

 soil is made firm and allowed to come slightly above 

 the tops of the boxes in the hotbed. It is then 

 marked out in squares in such a way that the inter- 

 section of the marks center the boxes, and the seeds 

 are planted therein. After putting in the seeds, 



Fig. 7. Hotbeds where the melon seeds are started. 



careful attention is given to watering, to ventilating 

 and to keeping out weeds. A day temperature is 

 maintained at first of from 50 to 60 degrees. As the 

 time for transplanting draws near, more air is given 

 in order to harden off the young plants. The seed- 

 lings are moved about in the beds to fill any possi- 

 ble vacancies and by the time they are ready to 

 transplant a perfect stand has been secured. 1 " 



These plant boxes are very cheap and may be had 

 from almost any berry box manufacturer. They 

 come "knocked down" the same as do the quart 

 or pint berry boxes and may be made up by the 



1 Bulletin 123, Purdue Experiment Station. 



