A B C OF FLORIDA TRUCKING 89 



CHAPTER XVII. 



MELONS. 



As the culture of the watermelon and the cantaloupe are 

 so much alike, I think it best to treat them in the same 

 chapter. 



The South is the home of the melon, and there is no 

 section of it that will produce any better or larger crops 

 than can be grown in our own State. The melon likes a 

 rich, sandy loam soil and plenty of warm sunshine. This 

 kind of soil abounds here, and as to the warm sunshine, 

 there is no country under the sun that has more of it than 

 you can find right here in Florida. This crop is raised 

 very extensively in all parts of the State, but it is only in 

 the Southern portion that it can be grown during the win- 

 ter months. In the Northern and Central sections it is 

 planted in the early spring. Make your first plantings in 

 January and from then any time until May. If you wish 

 to force the crop, read the directions for forcing cucum- 

 bers, as this will apply equally as well to the melon. 



PREPARATION OF THE LAND AND FERTILIZING. 



Plow the land several times as deeply as possible with- 

 out turning up the sub-soil, then harrow thoroughly. For 

 cantaloupe lay the field off in beds six feet wide and apply 

 the fertilizer in a continuous line along the middle of the 

 beds, using about a thousand pounds to the acre, which 

 should analyze as follows : 5 to 7% ammonia ; available 

 phosphoric acid, 7 to 9% ; potash, 5 to 7%. For melons use 

 the same fertilizer, only apply it as you make up the hill, 

 using from two to two and one-half pounds for each one, 

 mixing with the soil. It will be impossible to do this work 

 foe, thoroughly. As soon as the plants of both the melon 

 and the cantaloupe start to grow give a second applica- 



