WATERMELON— WATERMELON DISEASES 



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Training tlie Tines 



The training should be "begun just as 

 soon as the vines begin to make runners. 

 The runners are never allowed to remain 

 in the ditches. By training the vines 

 back on the dry middles the melons are 

 always on dry soil and the chances for 

 the decay that might result from the 

 melons resting on wet soil are consider- 

 ably lessened. It is often necessary to go 

 over the field three or more times during 

 the earlier part of the season and turn 

 the vines over on the higher and dry 

 middles. This makes it necessary to 

 handle the vines more, perhaps, than is 

 desirable for the good of the plant. The 

 gardner should be careful in doing the 

 work not to injure the vines more than 

 necessary. Some melon growers in the 

 humid sections do not favor the practice 

 of turning the vines. One author writes 

 as follows: 



"Never, under any circumstances, turn 

 a vine! More will be lost by so doing 

 than will be gained by giving the plant 

 an extra cultivation. This is another 

 ancestral practice and doubtless arises 

 from the fact that vines when turned 

 are apt to be carelessly handled. If re- 

 turned gently and deftly to their original 

 position, it is difRcult to realize how they 

 would be injured. Any weeding that is 

 found necessary after this time should 

 be effected with a scythe blade, lopping 

 off the tops of the weeds above the vines. 

 They should not even be pulled out by 

 hand, on account of the danger of mutilat- 

 ing the vines, which generally hold them 

 in a tight embrace with their tendrils. 

 Indeed, rather than risk disturbing a 

 vine it would be preferable to leave the 

 weeds and the melons to 'have it out' be- 

 tween them; for a few well-anchored 

 weeds, here and there, prove rather a 

 henefit than a detriment, since they pre- 

 vent the winds from rolling up and mat- 

 ting the vines."* 



Cnltivation 



The cultivation of the watermelon is 

 very simple. It consists in hoeing the 



* Georgia Experiment station Bulletin 38, 

 p. 75, by Hugh N. Stearns. 



weeds in the ditches and around the 

 vine during its earlier growth, and in 

 occasionally drawing up the soil to the 

 vine with the hoe from the inside of the 

 ditch. The middles are cultivated during 

 the early part of the season; and as soon 

 as the runners get large enough to take 

 up a considerable part of the middles, 

 cultivation is stopped. Since the middles 

 are never irrigated, very few weeds grow 

 in the middles. , If, after cultivation has 

 stopped, the middles get weedy, the large 

 weeds can be pulled up by hand or they 

 may be cut off with a scythe. 



How to Tell a Bipe Melon 



The knowledge of telling a ripe melon 

 comes mainly by experience and observa- 

 tion. It is often claimed that when the 

 little "curl" or tendril on the stem is 

 dead, the melon is ripe; if green, the 

 melon is also green. This is not alto- 

 gether a reliable sign. The flat, dead 

 sound emitted by the melon when thump- 

 ed with the finger is also an indication 

 of ripeness. If on turning the melon over 

 and exposing the under side, the white 

 blotches are found yellowish, rough and 

 warty with the surface sufficiently hard 

 to resist the linger nails when scratched, 

 it is another sign of ripeness. After the 

 melon looks ripe and thumps as if it 

 were ripe, and if on pressing it down the 

 interior appears to give, and this is also 

 accompanied by a slight crisp crackling, 

 the melon is almost sure to be ripe. 

 Melons that are to be shipped should not 

 be put to this latter test. 



Fabian Garcia, 

 Santa Fe, N. M. 



WATERMELON DISEASES 



Damping-off or Rhizoctonia, see Gu- 

 ciim'ber Diseases* 



Leaf Diseases 



Akthragnose, Downy Mildew, Leaf 

 Mould, Leaf Spot, see Cucumher and 

 Cantaloup Diseases. 



Wilt 



Fusarium 

 F. B. Bailey 

 The fungous wilt of watermelons is 

 a disease that causes great loss in certain 



