May, 1908 
leads to an extra strong growth of vine and 
foliage with a larger and quite insipid fruit. 
A stiff and heavy soil can be improved by 
making large hills one and a half to two 
feet across, raised four to six inches above 
the surrounding surface and mixing a liberal 
quantity of sifted coal ashes or clean sand 
with the soil in the hills. The raised hill 
gives good surface drainage during heavy 
rains, while the ashes or sand make the 
soil more loose and open so that the young 
vines root more deeply. 
The essential in melon culture is a deep 
root system with an abundance of small, 
fibrous roots. Therefore, a hole a foot or 
so deep is first dug or scraped out where the 
hill is to be and a large shovelful of well- 
rotted compost or manure is placed in the 
hill and covered with about four inches of fine 
loose soil in which to plant the seed. Make 
the hills four to five feet apart each way to 
allow the vines room to spread. If a little 
extra trouble is taken to thoroughly mix the 
manure or compost with the soil and to loosen 
up the subsoil in the bottom of the hole before 
planting, a stronger and quicker growth 
of the vines will be the reward. In some 
of the older melon-growing sections there 
is so much trouble with blight, which comes 
just as the melons are ripening, that market 
growers have found it preferable to broad- 
cast their manure on the land and plow it 
under, using commercial fertilizer in the hills 
to give the vines a quick start. This, how- 
ever, is chiefly applicable to warm, sandy 
soils, the rotted manure or rich compost 
being better for heavier soils. 
Nothing is gained by very early planting, 
and, indeed, flavor is frequently lost, on ac- 
count of the checked and weakened growth 
of the vines that are started before the nights 
become warm. A safe rule to follow is to 
wait until the trees are fully out in leaf and 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
PLANTERS’ GUIDE TO VARIETIES 
Green-fleshed Melons 
NAME SIZE SHAPE | SKIN | SEASON | FLAVOR 
JennyLind| Small | Flat- | Heavily | Very | Fair 
tened netted early 
Netted Gem] Medium | Moder-| Netted | Early | Fine 
or ate to 
Rocky Ford slightly 
oval 
Acme or | Medium} Oval | Netted | Mid- | Fine 
Baltumore season 
Model Medium | Oval | Netted | Mid- | Fine 
Matchless season 
LongIsland| Large | Round| Heavily | Mid- | Fine 
Beauty netted | season 
Montreal Very | Round] Netted | Very | Excel- 
Nutmeg large late lent 
Salmon cor Orange-fleshed Melons 
NAME SIZE SHAPE | SKIN | SEASON | FLAVOR 
Emerald Small Flat | Smooth | Earliest] The 
Gem dark o: all | finest 
green 
Osage or | Medium] Round} Dark | Early | Supe- 
Miller’s | to large green |to mid-} rior 
Cream slightly | season 
netted 
Burrell | Medium | Oblong] Dark Mid- | Supe- 
Gem green | season| rior 
; netted 
Fordhook | Medium | Flat- | Heavily | Mid- | Supe- 
tened | netted | season| rior 
Tip Top | Medium | Round} Smooth | Mid- | Fine 
to large pale season 
green 
Strawberry] Large | Round} Golden, | Late | Fine 
or XX netted 
MesCarmes} Very | Round| Smooth,| Very | Rich 
large very pale] late | musky 
green aroma 
223 
the thermometer stands at 60 degrees at 
night before planting the seed. Then plant 
eight to ten seeds in the carefully-prepared 
hill and cover them one-half to one inch 
deep with fine soil. A few radish or turnip 
seeds planted in the hill at the same time as 
the melon seeds make an excellent safe- 
guard against the small black fly which at- 
tacks the seed leaves of the young melon 
plants. These seeds germinate before the 
melons and the insects attack them in pref- 
erence. 
When the young melon plants show two 
or three true leaves thin the young plants, 
leaving only the best two in each hill; at 
the same time pull out the radish or turnip 
trap plants if these have been sown. After 
thinning, work up the soil about the plants 
into a fine loose condition and slightly draw 
up the earth around the stems of those plants 
that have been left to grow. A small hoe 
or hand weeder can be used in loosening 
up the earth in the hill, but most of this 
first working around the plants is best done 
with the fingers, as, while the entire surface 
should be made as loose and fine as possible, 
the young plants must not be disturbed any 
more than can be helped. 
As the plants develop keep the soil 
between the hills constantly worked with 
the horse or hand cultivators both to keep it 
always loose and to prevent weeds from 
starting. This can be done easily as the 
raised hill does away with any danger of 
covering the plants with soil thrown up by 
the cultivator. The soil in the hills must 
also be kept loose and open, however, by 
frequent hoeings, either before or right after 
cultivation with the larger cultivator. The 
latter is preferable as there will be a smaller 
space to work by hand following the culti- 
vation and the plants can be left in better 
shape. 
Button strain of Jenny Lind. 
the projection at the blossom end 
Extra early with concentrated sweetness in 
Green-fleshed Hackensack, handsomely netted. Extra Early Hackensack and 
Long Island Beauty are improved strains 
