Muskmelons Really Worth Eating 



W. C. McCOLLOM 



Anybody Can Have Them. The Editor has Tasted Mr. McCollom's Productions 

 and Can Vouch for the Results of His Method of Cultivation 



A really good melon is something worth while! Why grow 

 other kind? 



GOOD and poor quality melons unfor- 

 tunately look alike. Yet a good melon 

 is one of the richest and most luscious 

 of fruits but a poor insipid one is ter- 

 ribly disappointing and it is only after tasting 

 that the difference is realized. 



I am a firm believer in selection, whether it be 

 corn, chickens, or melons. If you breed from in- 

 ferior stock you are sure to have inferior products. 

 The proper selection of good seeds for the melon 

 crop is more important than the actual cultivation 

 of the plants! I have seen fairly good melons 

 grown from good seeds with careless cultivation, 

 but I have never seen any good melons grown 

 from poor seeds. 



For more than twelve years I have been select- 

 ing a strain of melons, every year, during that 

 period selecting my seed as carefully as I could, 

 and during that time I have noticed an improve- 

 ment; nothing marvelous, but an improvement, 

 nevertheless. 



In the beginning I selected what I considered 

 a good type of melon, one which I had hopes of 

 building up into what I regard as the ideal melon 

 — moderate size, green rind, good firm salmon- 

 colored flesh, small seed cavity, and early ripening. 

 Emerald Gem comes nearer this mark than any 

 other, so I selected it for a basis. Each year I 

 selected from the first three or four melons to 

 ripen my seed supply for the following year, but 

 each of the melons from which I saved seed had 

 all the good points that I was seeking. I now 

 have what I consider an extra fine type of melon. 

 It is early, for by selecting seed each year from 

 the first melons to ripen I have developed an 

 early ripening strain. This is important, because 

 the cool nights of August are quite a hardship 

 when the vines are carrying a heavy load of fruit, 

 but if that load is reduced by some of the melons 

 ripening before the cool nights come along the 

 plants do not seem to suffer. I have seen some 

 very promising melon crops develop into failures 

 solely because of late ripening. There has also 

 been a steady improvement in the other essentials 

 of the ideal melon. My melons are very high 

 flavored and of a good rich salmon red which, 

 contrasted with a green rind, makes them far 

 more appetizing to me than any green-fleshed 

 melon. Now the point of all this is that any one 

 else can do exactly the same thing. 



A FTER the proper selection of the seeds, 

 ■^*- planting is to be considered. I have seen 

 some very good results without the use of melon 

 frames but my observation and experience lead 

 to the conclusion that the melon frames will soon 



pay for themselves. They are inexpen- 

 sive and reallynogarden is properlycom- 

 plete without a few such aids. Of course, 

 any one that is at all handy with tools 

 could veryeasilymakethem him- 

 self. A melon frame is simply a 

 square box 24 x 24 in., with a 

 slanting top about 9 inches high 

 in front and 12 inches in back. 

 If you do not want to get sash 

 get some 24 x 24 in. glass for 

 the top. 



Before the frames are brought 

 into use first prepare the hills. 

 This is next in importance to 

 selecting the seed. Dig a space three 

 feet across and from two to two and a 

 half feet deep, always throwing the top 

 soil to one side, and the "bottom spit" 

 to the other. Space the hills eight feet 

 each way. If there is any old sod con- 

 venient, use it to prepare the hills. Chop 

 it up rather fine and thoroughly incor- 

 porate with it about one third the bulk 

 of good, well-rotted manure. Cow man- 

 ure is preferable. The manure for the purpose 

 should not be thick and soggy or cheesy, as the 

 gardener terms it, but short and well decayed, and 

 must be shaken thoroughly so that it mixes well 

 with the soil. If you haven't any sod and cannot 

 procure any, use the excavated soil. When re- 

 filling keep the dark or top soil to the bottom of 

 the hole. Mix the manure with this soil and 

 when completed give a thorough soaking with 

 water. Then in the centre of each hill place the 

 melon frame and keep the sash on for several days 

 to warm the soil thoroughly before the seed is sown. 



COME growers sow the seeds in a greenhouse 

 ^ or hotbed and transfer them to the melon 

 frames when large enough. I do not follow that 

 method because I believe that by planting in pots 

 for subsequent transplating the direct growth of 

 the seedling root is hampered and leads to the 

 production of numerous roots at the surface. 

 By sowing in permanent quarters this seedling 

 root penetrates down deep in the earth where 

 drought is not so apt to bother it to any extent, 

 making later watering unnecessary and so re- 

 lieving one of the worst of the melon enemies. 

 The melon does not take kindly to watering. I 

 sow seed about the middle of April; the weather, 

 however, is of far more importance than the cal- 

 endar. Sow about ten seeds to each hill and when 



the third leaf appears, reduce the plants to five. 

 Three plants to each hill is sufficient; the other 

 two can be pulled out when we are certain the 

 plants are established. 



Until the seeds show signs of life we need not 

 attend to ventilation; but after the seeds have 

 germinated ventilating must be attended to 

 regularly, opening the frames very slightly at first, 

 and gradually increasing as the warm weather 

 approaches, until around the end of May we can 

 remove the sash entirely. Common sense must 

 rule. The plants must not be stunted by too 

 much ventilation, neither must they be allowed 

 to become thin and drawn by not enough. The 

 grower must perforce use his own judgment for 

 no hard-and-fast rule can be made. 



When the time arrives for the sash to be re- 

 moved the plants should fill the frames, and will 

 start to run as soon as the sash are removed. And 

 how they will grow if they have been treated 

 properly in the beginning! At this time the lead- 

 ers should be evenly spaced and held in place by 

 a small peg or a twig bent V shape and inverted, 

 the ends being pressed into the ground 

 on either side of the stem. Do not bruise 

 the vine and do not have the pegs so long that the 

 vines cannot pull them out as they grow. 



Very little attention is required from this stage 

 until the ripening period — just look over the vines 

 carefully for blight or rust, spraying at the first 

 indication of trouble. Also pick off and burn all 

 afFected parts. If the garden is subject to rust 

 spray anyhow, for a preventive using either bor- 

 deaux or copper carbonate. Avoid watering so 

 far as possible, but if you must water, don't wet the 

 foliage but let the hose run gently right on the hill, 

 first laying down a cabbage leaf to prevent mak- 

 ing a hole and exposing the roots. Do this in the 

 evening or early morning, preferably the latter. 



A BOUT the time the melons are full-grown, 

 -^*- but before they begin to ripen, place a small 

 board under each fruit to help even ripening. 



And now the gathering! I pick my melons 

 when they are almost ready to leave the vines, not 

 waiting for them to fall off, as I find that when 

 they are allowed to leave the vine naturally one 

 end is a little over-ripe. Pick when the melon is 

 still firm, and place them in a hot greenhouse or 

 some such place for a few hours where they will 

 ripen evenly, and completely. They can then be 

 placed on ice or on a cellar floor. Don't have a melon 

 cut open and filled with cracked ice hours before 

 serving. Good melons are not hard to grow. 



Gathering the crop! It is important to disturb the vine as litt 



117 



possible. Theretore don't walk about more tt-an necessary 



