18% 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
399 
bottoms of the wheels was quite a little greater than 
that between the tops. The result was that the inside 
shovels run the deepest, when they should, if any 
difference, run the shallowest. My potato rows are 
only 30 inches apart this year, and the ordinary, solid- 
arch cultivator is too wide. Manufacturers want to 
please the buying public, and they want to put good 
goods upon the market. I believe that there is a de¬ 
mand for a solid-arch cultivator that will not track 
over 42 inches. I induced a manufacturer to make 
such a cultivator for me, and it does finely. I cer¬ 
tainly do not assert that all adjustable arches will 
permit this settling of the inside end of the axles ; 
but buyers should deal only with reliable firms, and 
ask a guarantee in this respect. I found one such 
cultivator a losing investment; the other was taken 
back by the makers. One of these cultivators was 
adapted to deep cultivation, and had only two shovels 
on each side. That was all right for the earliest 
plowings of potatoes, but did poor work when surface 
cultivation was wanted. It seemed absolutely neces¬ 
sary to have a two-horse surface cultivator, as it 
would do the work of two one-horse cultivators until 
the vines became large, and this would save hiring. 
I find that eight spring-teeth on a cultivator do nearly 
perfect work, and taking two middies at a time when 
the tops were half-grown, one team cultivated 14 
acres of potatoes in a day last summer in rows 80 rods 
long. This implement is a profitable investment in 
my case. 
The weeder has become a necessity ; mine has again 
paid for itself this season. It must be used at the 
right time, and probably, does not give results in 
tight clays. Like all other implements, the lowest- 
priced may not be the cheapest. There must be good 
steel in the teeth, or they will break badly. 
Americans incline to light-weight implements, 
and we, probably, make the best in the 
world ; but there is a limit to desirable 
lightness. I went beyond the limit when 
buying one mower, the frame being too 
light to stand the strain as it should. It 
was exchanged for a make with heavier 
frame, and the latter will be far more 
durable. There is no virtue in heavy pot- 
metal, but a mower frame should be 
sufficiently heavy to prevent excessive 
vibration when the sickle is going 
through heavy and tough grass. 
My potato planter does much better 
work than can be done by hand, placing 
all the seed at an even depth, and 
leaving no seed exposed to the hot sun, 
as is usually the case in dropping by 
hand. It misses no hills, and covers well. 
It is one of my best investments. 
The gi-ain drill, land roller, plank 
drag, smoothing harrow, breaking 
plows, one-horse cultivator, hay rake, 
fanning mill, etc., seem to be necessities, 
and the line can hardly be drawn against any of them ; 
yet all combine to represent a greater cash outlay 
than one likes to contemplate when beginning to 
farm, and call for an amount of capital out of pro¬ 
portion to the net profits of the farm. The main point 
to consider, however, is that, without the most of 
these implements, general farming would show even 
smaller profit. alva agek. 
MUSKMELON CULTURE IN SOUTH JERSEY. 
THE WHOLE STORY TOLD. 
Melons are grown, to a large extent, in this vicinity, 
for the Philadelphia market. They are a somewhat 
precarious crop, and often fail to produce a profit, 
even after everything seems to have been done upon 
the grower’s part. Yet the yield is sometimes so 
heavy, and the profits so large, that nearly every 
trucker makes them one of his standard crops. 
They are grown upon a variety of soils, from sand 
to clay, but a stiff, sandy loam is preferable for their 
best development. They are made to follow sweet 
potatoes or some other cultivated crop that does not 
draw upon the soil too heavily. They may be planted 
at any time from April to June. The early crop is 
planted as soon in April as the ground is warm 
enough to sprout the seed without rotting, between 
peas. Early peas are sown as soon as the ground 
opens in Februar 7 and March, in drills five feet apart. 
As soon as the peas appear, fui*rows are opened be¬ 
tween the rows, and stable manure well composted 
and rotted, is put in the furrows at the rate of 10 tons 
per acre. It is aimed to do this as long before plant¬ 
ing time as possible, so that the soil and manure may 
become settled and firm before planting the seed. 
Some put the manure in hills ; this necessitates cross¬ 
ing the field and peas with a marker to know where 
to plant the seed after the manure is ridged over with 
a plow. Generally the manure is spread evenly along 
the furrow, and as the hills are only three feet apart, 
the roots find it all. 
Growers are very particular about the seed, and 
either save their own, or get it from some one who is 
noted as a successful gi*ower. As soon as the ground 
gets moderately warm in April, the first planting is 
made, dropping from six to eight seeds in a hill, and 
covering with a hoe about an inch deep. In about 10 
days afterwards, whether the first planting has 
sprouted or not, a second planting is made in the 
same hills where the first seed were planted. This 
gives a double chance for a solid stand. 
The peas coming up first, attract most of the Cut¬ 
worms to them, so the melons do not suffer so much 
as they otherwise would. The melons are kept well 
cultivated, and at the second hoeing, are thinned out, 
leaving the best two plants in each hill. 
As soon as the peas are picked, and the melons begin 
to run freely, they are laid by. This is done by lift¬ 
ing the vines by hand, one hill at a time, in a middle 
between two rows, and turning them over into the 
adjoining middles ; every alternate middle in the field 
is served in this manner, and these are then plowed 
with a one-horse plow, throwing the soil toward the 
melon rows and plowing the pea vines under. The 
vines are then turned carefully into the plowed 
middles, and the remaining middles are plowed in the 
same way. The vines are then distributed where 
they belong. This treatment leaves the vines in fine 
condition ; they should soon cover the ground, smother 
all weeds and grass, and need no further care until 
picking time. 
The proper picking of melons requires some ex¬ 
perience. If picked too green, they do not develop 
their highest flavor; if they are not picked close 
enough, there will be great waste. They ripen so 
rapidly that it is necessary to go over them every day, 
and in hot weather, twice a day. The patches left 
from Saturday to Monday have a large quantity of 
flavor, and net the grower a loss instead of a profit. 
Still, the returns of from $100 to $300 per acre, which 
sometimes occur, and which all hear about, are so 
fascinating, in these seasons of dull times, that nearly 
all truckers risk from five to ten acres yearly in this 
crop, and, perhaps, on an average, it pays about as 
well as others. chari.es tarry. 
Burlington County, N. .J. 
over-ripe culls on the latter day. The melons are 
picked in baskets, carried to the ends of the rows, 
and poured carefully in heaps to be packed for market. 
Three grades are made—primes, culls and hog melons. 
The culls are melons that are over-ripe, or smooth 
and have not roughened up properly. As soon as the 
market gets full, most of the culls go to the hogs, for 
which they are very fine feed. 
The melons are packed in five-eighth-bushel bas¬ 
kets, rounded up symmetrically six to ten inches 
above the top, and a fine specimen placed in the 
center. They are then placed upon wagons holding 
from 75 to 100 baskets, and carted to commission 
merchants in Philadelphia, who sell them for 10 per 
cent commission, returning all empty baskets. The 
first melons generally bring from 75 cents to $1 per 
basket, the price rapidly falling to 50 cents, gradually 
to 25 cents, mostly to 10 cents, sometimes to five cents 
and less. If they do well, there is a good profit in 
them at 25 cents per basket, as a good field will 
readily yield 500 baskets per acre. 
The principal enemy of the crop is the Melon louse, 
and when a patch becomes infested with this insect, 
it is of little account. No practical plan of combat¬ 
ting this foe has been discovered. Kerosene emulsion 
will kill all that it reaches, but from the habit of the 
insect of confining itself to the underside of the leaf, 
it is difficult to reach it. An effectual remedy con¬ 
sists in placing over the whole vine a tight cover of 
some kind, and then placing under the cover a saucer 
of bisulphide of carbon, or cyanide of potassium and 
sulphuric acid. Either of these will generate a gas 
fatal to the insects. But the method is slow and ex¬ 
pensive. Many growers watch carefully, and when 
they see an infested hill, pull it up and bury it. This 
is effectual when the attack is not widespread. 
Another drawback is the scald. Sometimes when 
the field has escaped the louse, and bids fair to turn 
out finely, a few heavy showers followed by hot sun¬ 
shine, will scald the foliage and ruin the field. The. 
melons will not roughen up right, will be of poor 
CIVIL ENGINEERING FOR BOYS ON THE FARM 
Part III. 
The Leveling Rod. 
Aside from the leveling instrument, a leveling rod 
will be needed, with which to take levels. Any plain, 
straight rod will do, but it will be more convenient if 
marked off into feet and parts of feet. Engineers use 
leveling rods in which the foot is divided decimally, 
i. e., into tenths and hundredths, because it is so 
much simpler and handier to do the figuring that way 
than it is to have the feet divided into inches. A good 
leveling rod is made from a strip of straight-grained 
board, about 12 feet long, two inches wide and three- 
fourths inch thick ; plane it smooth, straight and 
true, and mark it off into feet by marks extending 
squarely across the rod. These should be numbered 
from the bottom upward. Then with a pair of com¬ 
passes or dividers, space off each foot into 10 equal 
parts, and for these divisions, make marks half way 
across the rod and number them also from the bottom 
upward. The^e spices may be again divided into 
halves and the dividing lines marked one-fourth way 
across the rod, see Pig. 132. These divisions are as 
small as are used in ordinary work by civil engineers. 
When a smaller division is needed, it is estimated by 
the eye, or if the work be what is known as precise 
leveling, a special device known as a vernier is used 
to obtain the smaller measurements. 
Precise leveling is seldom, if ever, re¬ 
quired in laying out drains, road grades, 
or any similar work, and if it were, it 
would require an instrument with tele¬ 
scopic sights to do it. 
A target should be attached to the rod 
so as to slide up and down it, to mark 
the place where the level line strikes it. 
If the rod is two inches wide and one- 
half inch thick, a good size for the target 
will be three or f„ur inches wide and 
six inches long. If made of tin, it may 
be cut out in the middle so that two 
pieces may be bent back in such a way 
as to clasp and hold it to the rod, see 
Fig. 132. It should clasp the rod tightly 
enough not to slide out of place by its 
own weight, but stay wherever it is 
placed. It may have a horizontal line 
marked across the center of it to sight 
to, or either edge may be used for that 
purpose. Whichever line on the target 
is used to sight to, should be at right angles or square 
with the rod. It is common to paint the target so 
that it can be seen more plainly. It is marked off 
into quarters, these quarters painted red and white 
alternately, and the sight is taken to the middle line 
of the target. Instead of marking the feet and tenths, 
or inches, on the rod itself, a piece of tape line may 
be tacked on to it. An envelope or a card held in the 
hand, may be used for a target. A thin metal plate 
fastened to the bottom of the rod for a shoe will pre¬ 
vent wear. 
How to Find the Difference in Height of Two 
Points. —We will suppose the two points to be so 
situated that it will not be necessary to set up the 
level but once, and that we have a level mounted on 
a tripod, and having an adjustable arm carrying the 
water tube like the one described in Part II. Set up 
the level at some point from which both the points 
can be seen, and, preferably, about equidistant from 
them. Spread the legs of the tripod so the instrument 
will stand firm, and at the same time place them in 
such a position that the tripod head will be some¬ 
where near level. Turn the arm carrying the level 
tube so that it will point toward the higher point ; 
level it approximately. A glance over it toward the 
horizon will give a pointer on that. Then pour the 
colored water into the tube, elevating or depressing 
the ends as required, until the water can be plainly 
seen in both the glass ends of the tube above the arm. 
An assistant called a rodman, now holds the rod on 
the desired higher point being careful to hold it 
plumb, and moves the target up and down on the rod, 
as directed, until it is exactly on a level with the sur¬ 
faces of the water in the instrument. The distance 
from the target down to the bottom of the rod, shows 
how much the point is below the level of the instru¬ 
ment. This distance is read right off from the rod, 
and is called the rod reading. Call the rod reading 
at this point, 4.05 feet. The rodman now goes to the 
lower point, sets up his rod, and its reading is found 
in the same way that it was found at- the higher ; call 
