THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 18 
186 
A Melon on Each Two Square Feet. 
D. F. W., Ashland, 0.—While reading 
The Rural I saw advice asked about fer¬ 
tilizing melons. For musk-melons in my 
garden, I prepare the soil with as much 
stable manure as I would use in fitting 
it for cabbages. Then with the garden 
cultivator I score out about two inches 
deep in rows about three feet apart and 
scatter just enough fertilizer in the rows 
to fairly dust the ground in them, then 
run the cultivator through the rows 
again. (The shovel I use is made of a 
grain drill point and dressed so as to be 
spread out somewhat at the bottom, so 
as to dig and cut grass roots.) After run¬ 
ning through the rows the second time, 
I drill the seeds by hand in the rows 
thick enough to be sure to get a stand, 
and cover about half an inch deep. I 
plant in this way to be sure to get a good 
stand, and where I fail to get one, I 
can easily with a trowel transplant 
the young plants from where they are 
too thick to where they are lacking, with 
but little trouble. Single plants in the 
row do better than in the hill; insects 
do not get in their work as they do in the 
hill. After all the danger from this source 
is about past, I thin out so that each 
plant is about three feet from its neigh¬ 
bor. This gives each an independent 
position. Then each plant gets an equal 
share of the rain on the lot. Should the 
root grubs begin to work on the roots, 
which can be discovered by the plant just 
wilting, dissolve nitrate of potash, one 
ounce, in a pint'of water, and put a table¬ 
spoonful into a pail of water and apply a 
pint to each hill in the evening. Keep 
this up for several days or until the first 
solution is all used. I use seeds of sev¬ 
eral different kinds, as I plant for family 
use, and save the seeds of the best each 
year, and, when I plant next year, I also 
buy some new seeds of some of the Green 
Nutmeg varieties, and never fail to have 
lots of melons. I believe that by this 
method I can raise a melon for every two 
square feet of ground in the lot. 
Who Will Name the Disease? 
B. B., Farmingdale, III.—On page 
138, Tiie Rural is mistaken—the Japan¬ 
ese Climbing cucumber was offered last 
year. I planted it along with the Bal¬ 
loon vine, Balsam apple, Mina lobata 
and some other vines under a four wire 
trellis, and there is no doubt but it will 
climb, but what I write especially for is 
to state that a peculiar fungus or bac¬ 
terium attacked it when the first cucum¬ 
bers had set, and killed all my vines. 
The disease spread also to the other 
plants and damaged them more or less. 
This was in wet weather: a dry spell fol¬ 
lowing, the disease was checked. Speci¬ 
men diseased leaves were sent to the 
State Horticulturist, but the nature of 
the trouble was not determined. The 
disease radiated from a point. The leaves 
were covered with a substance greasy 
to the touch, resembling iron rust satu¬ 
rated in oil. They wilted, but did not 
shrivel much for a day or two. Under 
favorable conditions the disease spread 
very rapidly and I have no doubt but 
melon, pumpkin and similar vines are 
liable to it. What is it ? 
A Wholesale Potato Business. 
E. H. C., River Falls, Wis.—T here 
are over 25 Aspinwall planters in this 
neighborhood and the highest price for 
rent of a machine is 40 cents per acre, 
and 65 cents per acre when the owner 
furnishes the team and driver; but 25 
cents per acre is the ruling rent of the 
machine alone. Each is expected to 
plant about 100 acres each season. With 
line of my own I planted 180 acres in 
r«FENCING 
* BfcggL^WIRE ROPE SELVAGE. 
1889 and it did the work at the rate of 
7 )4 acres per day, and our Hoover & 
Prout digger dug the whole crop, which 
amounted to a little over 32,000 bushels 
I made an average of about 
by weight, 
1,000 bushels per day, delivered at the 
car, starch factory or cellar. The crop 
sold for only 16 cents per bushel, and 
still gave a profit. The best day’s dig¬ 
ging for that year was 2,388 bushels in 
10 % hours, and I believe it is the best 
ever made with the digger. 
I have noticed a few articles in The 
Rural in regard to handling potatoes 
from the field, and find that a great many 
use boxes for picking them up. I never 
saw anything of the kind here, and this 
is a big potato country. Most of the 
farmers, who raise any to sell, plant from 
10 to 60 acres, and all use bushel baskets 
to pick into, one man to the basket, and 
they empty into sacks, one bushel to the 
sack. When a man starts to pick up he 
puts about 20 sacks into one and throws 
this ahead of him about the distance in 
which a bushel can be picked from two 
rows. He then takes out one sack, and 
sends the rest on ahead as at first. In 
this way an ordinary man will pick up 
from 100 to 150 bushels in 10 hours. The 
man who hauls the tubers from the field, 
loads the sacks from the ground, and will 
put about 600 bushels in the cellar each 
day, without a man or boy to help load 
or empty. The sacks cost five cents each 
and will last about two seasons and then 
be worth three cents each to fill orders 
for “sacked potatoes.” In the way we 
handle our potatoes from planting to 
marketing, there is more net profit in 
this crop, even at 18 cents per bushel, at 
depot or starch factory, than in any other 
raised here, although we have farmers 
who raise 32 bushels of wheat, 60 to 75 
bushels of oats, 75 bushels of corn and 
50 bushels of barley per acre. The av¬ 
erage yield of potatoes is from 175 to 250 
bushels, and some large fields do even 
better. Ten years ago about 100 to 125 
bushels was considered a good yield, but 
we found that by thoroughly preparing 
the ground, we could not only raise twice 
as many per acre, but that we could raise 
them cheaper. The potato crop in this 
section last season paid a net profit >of 
from $50 to $75 per acre on land worth 
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Avoid Boiling Bain Water 
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GRUB-STUMP 
MACHINE . JSL- 
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These mixtures will give a pasture that will stand without renewal for 20 years. Thousands 
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Henderson's American Farmers’ Manual, offering the most complete list of Grasses, 
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IN writing to advertisers please always mention 
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Thousands 
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a Of dollars I spent trying 
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13 years. Physicians 
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S AIt«AI»ARII-Ii A , 
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HOOD'S PlLLS cure liver ills, constipation, 
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The Wonderful new Chei 
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this new Cherry, write for oar 
For a full description 
Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue Free. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON A CO., 
r///cf« Murttri m, HIQHTSTOWk 
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YORK. RA¬ 
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(Mention this paper J_ 
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square hole spools 
one piece, square 
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