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AA warm location, alluvial soil, or a light but moist free soil is 
the best, provided the distance to market be not too great. Deep 
ploughing is an advantage. The “hills” are placed 8 to 10 feet 
apart for melons and 6 to 8 feet for rock melons: they should not 
be built above ground. Vive to six seeds are planted in each hill; 
these are planted a few inches deep. When the plants are young, 
they are thinned out to two in each hill. The surface of the hills 
need not be raised above the level of the ground. Spring is the time 
for sowing the seeds, as the plants are gross feeders. Manuring 
should be on the liberal side, bone dust and dried blood preferably. 
Thorough cultivation will keep the ground moist enough in the 
coastal zone, although irrigation considerably increases the yield 
of the crop. When insects are troublesome, a dusting with air- 
slacked lime, ashes, soot, ete., is generally sufficient to keep the pest 
under control. 
Of water melons, plant the sorts which do best in the locality. 
“Cuban Queen” has long been a standard sort, although not the 
best to eat, it is a most reliable cropper, the others needing irriga- 
tion. It is also the easiest handled, and can be sent out by the truck 
load, either in bags or loose and does not burst. 
It requires cultivating when it is voung, after it has commenced 
running it is all right. Yields on the Swan Valley, which is close to 
the Metropolitan market, vary from 3 to 9 tons to the acre. The 
fruit weighs 6 to 30 Ibs. but the best marketing ones weigh 12 to 
18 Ibs. They should be graded when sold and they are sorted out 
in the auction market in square frames about 3ft. square, 1 dozen 
to 2 dozen in each. Water melons are sold by the ewt. or by the 
dozen. Four to 10 melens weigh 1 ewt., or on an average eight. The 
crop is sown in September and harvested in January, or four months 
after. 
Inexperienced growers are sometimes puzzled as to the right 
stage to gather the melons. 
Water melons often sound hollow to pereussion and when fit to 
pick the stalk begins to wither, although this is not an infallible sign. 
The tendrils wither, a crackling sound is heard when pressing lightly 
on the melon. One of the surest indications, however, is the clearer 
colour of the rind, which at times shows a faint tint of yellow. Musk 
and Rock melons, when ripening, sometimes crack more or less up 
to the stem. On pulling they should come off clean. Some of the 
larger varieties do not part so readily from the stem, and, if pulled, 
show a large hole in the rind; with those it is best to eut the stem. 
TROPICAL FRUITS. 
Of the several Australian States, two--Queensland and Western 
Australia— possess natural conditions which permit of the profitable 
cultivation of tropical crops and fruit, Tt is true of the Common- 
