124 



[February, 1912. 



HORTICULTURE. 



GROWING CUCURBITS, 



By Dr. J. C. Whitten, 

 Professor of Horticulture, University of 

 Missouri. 



(Fourth Annual Report of the Missouri 

 State Board of Horticulture, 1910.) 

 The cucurbits, including cucumbers, 

 cantaloupes, melons, etc., have similar 

 requirements, and are all cultivated 

 very much alike. They require a light, 

 mellow warm soil. A sandy loam is 

 best. If grown in a heavy clay loam, 

 it must contain much vegetable fibre in 

 order to m;»ke it loose and spongy. 

 They are faiily rank feeders, and the 

 sod should be rich. Indeed, much of the 

 damage done by iusects and diseases will 

 noc be noticeable if these plants have 

 enough soil fertility to keep them grow- 

 ing rapidly from the start. On the 

 other hand, grown in a poor soil so 

 the plants are weak, it is almost impos- 

 sible to keep them free from insects and 

 disease. Sod-land turned under is an 

 excellent place for these vine crops. 



As a mle, land should not be planted 

 to any of the plants of the gourd f amily 

 for more than one year in succession. 

 This is particularly true of watermelons. 

 If watermelons are planted more than 

 one year in succession, the grower rarely 

 ever realizes profitabJe crops. Growing 

 plants of the gourd family then, shouid 

 be part of a general farm rotation ; 

 growing a single crop of the gourds and 

 following this with such crops as corn, 

 wheat and clover. The farmers are 

 finding a good rotation to be melons, 

 or one of the gourd group, corn, wheat, 

 clover and then melons again. 



The land should be ploughed in the 

 fall if possible. It should be harrowed 

 and worked carefully in spring from 

 the time it becomes workable until 

 the melons or other gourd crops are 

 planted. This will kill most of the weeds 

 and will settle the soil hue and compact 

 below, leaving a good seed bed on top. 

 The cheapest cultivation that can be 

 given such a crop is the disking and 

 harrowing of the soil by way of pre- 

 paration before the crop is planted. 



None of the gourd crops should be 

 planted until the weather and soil are 

 warm, as none of them will stand frost. 

 Ordinarily in this State, they may be 

 planted during the last half of April or 

 very early in May. They are usually 

 planted in check rows ; the distance 

 apart varying from 5 or 6 feet each way 

 for cucumbers to 8 or 12 feet apart for 



melons. Perhaps the most convenient 

 method is to cross-furrow the land at 

 the distances suggested above. Where 

 the furrows cross the hills can be made. 

 The earth should be scooped out and a 

 shovelful of manure applied if it is 

 available. The soil is then thrown over 

 this manure so the top of the hill is 

 level with the surrounding soil. Six to 

 twelve seeds should be planted in each 

 hill in order to secure a full stand of 

 plants, and also to give opportunity for 

 selection of the best plants, when the 

 poorer ones are thinned out. When the 

 third or fourth leaf is well developed, 

 the plants should be thinned, leaving 

 four plants to the hill for cucumbers 

 and one or two for melons. 



The early cultivation may be fairly 

 deep, while the plants are young, and 

 before their roots begin to spread. Not 

 infrequently early in the season, rainy 

 weather may prevent cultivating until 

 weeds get a start. If the early culti- 

 vating is deep, these weeds may be more 

 readily killed if they once get estab- 

 lished. Later cultivation should be 

 shallow so as not to break off the roots 

 of the plants, once they begin to spread 

 out between the rows. In order to 

 maintain shallow cultivation, it should 

 be frequent. After every rain, the crust 

 should be broken as quickly as the land 

 can be worked. 



Frequent cultivation early lets the 

 spring rains soak into the ground in- 

 stead of allowing them to wash off from 

 the surface. Tnis enables the grower 

 to store up the early rains of the spring 

 deep into the soil below. The shallow 

 dust mulch maintained on top later in 

 the season saves this moisture in the 

 soil, so it will be available for the plants 

 during the dry weather of July or 

 August. 



The most common insect enemy of 

 these crops in this section is the striped 

 cucumber beetle, Usually, this insect 

 may readily be kept in check if the soil 

 is rich so the plants grow rapidly, and 

 if frequent cultivation is given to keep 

 the dust on the surface. The cucumber 

 beetle does not like dust. On small 

 areas, he may be kept down by sprinkl- 

 ing air slacked lime or ashes around the 

 hills and re-applying if after rains have 

 wet it down, In large commercial areas, 

 the growers depend upon soil dust main- 

 tained by cultivation to drive the insect 

 out of the field. On a dry day, culti- 

 vation may begin on the side of the field 

 next to the wind, when the insect, to 

 escape the dust, will go with the wind 



