240 



The Readers' Service gives 



Ir^ioTahoZTcli IZe THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Mat, 1909 



Paint Talks, No. 4— Paint In and Near the Water 



People who know that white lead and linseed oil make the best paint 

 for all general purposes sometimes get the idea that something else must be 

 added at the sea shore or where fogs are prevalent. Paint for boats also is 

 sometimes thought to require other materials. 



Thus often a little zinc is recommended by the same people who would shun it under 

 ordinary circumstances, knowing that its hard unyielding nature is liable to make the paint 

 crack or scale. If zinc will crack in one place it will in another. 



The difficulty met with in painting at the sea shore or in other foggy localities is simply 

 explained and simply remedied. The trouble is to get dry atmosphere to paint in, and a dry 

 surface to paint on. The remedy is : Paint only on the brightest, driest days and then only in 

 the middle of the day. Secure a solid priming coat and do not adulterate the white lead. 



Try this remedy just once. You will have no further trouble with paint at the waterside 

 any more than elsewhere. 



DIRECTIONS FOR PAINTING 

 Full directions for house painting, together with color schemes will be sent you if you ask 

 for " House Painting Outfit V." State whether you wish color schemes for painting the 



outside of the house or for the decoration of the interior. Also, if you are interested in boat 

 painting, mention that fact. 



NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY 





New York Boston 



(John T. Lewis & Bros. Company, Philadelphia 



An office in each of the following cities: 



Buffalo Cincinnati Chicago Cleveland St. Louis 



(National Lead & Oil Company, Pittsburgh) 



SUBURBAN 



GARDENERS 



Find in the Iron Age Book devices of which they never dreamed for 

 the easy, economical, exact cultivation of the pleasure-profit garden. 

 Think of one pair of easy-going handles performing every opera- 

 tion from the opening of the soil to the gathering of Nature's 

 reward and you have a slight idea of Iron Age methods. 



Whether you plant a hill, a row or an acre, whether you do it 



yourself or employ others, you must know about these Iron 



Age labor saving, yield-increasing implements if you want 



to get the full return for your labor or investment. The 



Iron Age Book will be forwarded upon request to readers of 



Garden Magazine-Farming. Read it and be a better gardener. 



BATEMAN MFG. CO., Box C, GRENLOCH, N. J. 



Quality in Watermelons 



HAVING had considerable experience in farm- 

 ing, I several years ago undertook the growing 

 of watermelons as a commercial crop. Corn had 

 formerly been grown in the fields, the soil was a 

 stiff loam, and was- well pulverized during March. 

 The field was marked off nine feet each way by 

 a marking plough, making 3,200 intersections. 

 Two forkfuls of manure were placed in 3,000 of 

 these, and afterward covered with about three 

 inches of soil. The manure was taken from a 

 barn basement where it had been accumulating 

 for nearly four years. In the remaining 200 inter- 

 sections one-half pound of a high-grade commercial 

 fertilizer was placed. The results showed that 

 these hills did not produce as many melons as 

 those in which the manure was placed, but this 

 was partly on account of a difference in soil and 

 location. 



We began planting seed on April 22nd, the 

 spring being rainy, cold, and late, from five to ten 

 seeds being placed over the manure and about 

 two inches deep. A few days later more seed 

 was planted in 150 hills, owing to an early visit 

 of crows. 



I planted most of the field with Black Boulder, 

 which is, without doubt, one of the best shipping 

 and most prolific melons. I also made tests with 

 the Fordhook Early and the New Triumph. The 

 former ripened at least ten days earlier than any 

 other variety grown here, and was pronounced 

 superior in every respect to the Florida Favorite 

 and Kleckly's Sweet.- After testing the keeping 

 and shipping qualities of Black Boulder, however, 

 I feel that I can conscientiously say it has no 

 superior, but that as a table melon it does not 

 compare with Fordhook Early. 



The third leaf on the plants and the striped 

 beetle made their appearance at the same time, 

 and tobacco dust was applied — first a handful 

 around the ground against the stems of the plants, 

 and later a heaping handful on each hill — but, 

 although 300 pounds of the tobacco dust were used 

 on the 3,200 hills, it was considered a failure. I 

 then applied seventy-five pounds of Slug Shot, 

 with most satisfactory results. 



When the plants had four to five leaves and 

 commenced to assume the vine condition,' we 

 thinned them out, leaving only the largest and 

 stockiest plants in each hill. Every weed was 

 pulled to give all possible nourishment to the vines. 

 When they were about one foot long a turning 

 plough was used to throw a furrow away from the 

 hill, the plough running as near as possible to the 

 plants without disturbing the roots. A man 

 followed the plough and dashed a handful, or 

 about a quarter of a pound, of commercial fertilizer 

 into the furrow against the hill, and following him 

 a plough threw back the furrow, covering the 

 fertilizer and not permitting the soil to dry out. 

 The cultivators were kept busy weeding, and after 

 the cut-away harrow was used once for deeply 

 rooted grass and weeds, clover seed was scattered 

 between the hills. When the vines were about 

 two feet long, we hill weeded until the vines 

 overlapped or covered the field. 



There are many oystermen in this neighborhood 

 who are anxious to make a little money during 

 the summer, and. they will carry the melons to 

 Baltimore or Washington for two cents apiece, 

 and to Norfolk -for one cent. Labor -. is , worth 

 here about ^$15 per month, without board; if the. 

 laborer is hired for any time -less than a month 



