25o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 23, 
to shed their pollen. While detasseling these alternate 
rows, all weak or otherwise unfit stalks in the other 
rows should be detasseled. We select all our seed 
from these detasseled rows; and therefore have only 
48 rows from which to select. We do this because we 
wish to be certain that our seed corn is all cross-bred. 
It has been found that the tassel, or male flower, of a 
corn plant nearly always sheds some pollen at the 
same time that the silk, or female flower, is ready to 
be pollinated. When such a pollination happens, we 
call it self-pollination or inbreeding. Such inbreeding 
has no effect on the general field’s production, but in 
the small breeding plot, where we naturally breed from 
year to year from a few nearly related plants, inbreed¬ 
ing has a serious effect. This ill effect is obviated by 
our detasseling and selection of seed from detasseled 
rows, for we know that by this means our seed corn 
will have been the product of a cross in every previous 
year of our breeding. That is, in each and every year, 
the plants coming from one seed ear will always have 
been pollinated by plants coming from other seed ears. 
Connecticut Experiment Station. e. m. east. 
PRACTICAL MELON CULTURE WITH THE 
AID OF GLASS. 
Is it practical to start melons under glass, and can 
they be thus grown successfully? Every year about 
this time we have a number of friends and customers, 
and also receive a good many letters, asking advice on 
this subject. I am quite enthusiastic about plant grow¬ 
ing and always enjoy a lively conversation on topics of 
this character, and I am going to answer questions 
relative to this subject with caution. However, after 
spending the greater part of my life growing plants of 
various kinds, I trust the readers will not consider it 
the part of presumption when I say that melons, cucum¬ 
bers, and, in fact, all vine fruits, can be started under 
glass and transferred to the open ground where they 
will, under proper cultivation and care, grow well, and 
give satisfactory returns. I must also frankly admit 
that the new beginner would better go pretty slow, 
for there is so much about gardening and plant grow¬ 
ing that you have to learn by hard work and close 
observation; therefore advice and opinions on all such 
subjects should be of a conservative nature and in no 
way misleading to the novice. An experienced grower 
need hardly be reminded of the varied behavior of the 
different crops that are under his care and attention. 
Melons may be started in the greenhouse or hotbeds 
in several ways, either by the use of pots or inverted 
sods, berry baskets or cubes. The latter, however, are 
to be preferred for several reasons. They are com¬ 
paratively cheap, costing about $3 per 1,000; they can 
be shipped in flats, making a light package on which 
the freight is very low. A plant box of this kind when 
tacked together is very simple, consisting of a piece of 
veneering or wood band scored to bend at the corners 
and tacked together. In size they are four inches 
square, containing about 67 cubic inches, and holding 
when full about one quart dry measure. They can be 
used with or without the bottom, but the bottom is 
seldom used except when plants are to be shipped. 
STARTING THE SEED.—Melon seeds are very 
sensitive. In cold, damp soil they will very often rot 
before sprouting, therefore a gentle bottom heat is 
necessary for starting them early. Where heat is thus 
provided, the seed can be soaked in warm water by 
first placing them in a piece of sacking; keep them 
warm and moist for 24 hours. They will come up 
almost immediately after planting and if the seed is 
good 90 per cent will germinate. Some growers prefer 
to plant the seed in the pot or box where they are to 
remain until set in the open ground. This method is 
not always successful. It is a better way to start the 
seed in 2^4-inch pot or on the greenhouse bench; give 
them a night temperature of 60 degrees, with an average 
of 75 during the day. If the seed is soaked, as before 
described, they will soon be up and growing. It is 
very important to know that the young plants at this 
critical time should be grown without forcing, for at 
this stage of growth is where most of the plants are 
spoiled and rendered worthless. When the plants begin 
to form their character leaves they should then be 
repotted or transferred to the cold frame. The surface 
of the cold frame should be made hard and level; the 
boxes are placed on the hard surface without bottoms 
and filled with rich soil. Sash are then placed over 
them for a few days to warm the soil in the cubes or 
boxes. The young plants, after receiving a thorough 
watering, should be knocked out of the pots and set 
in the boxes. The frames must be kept warm at night 
and the glass must be covered with mats or carpet. 
Very frequently a warm, balmy day in April terminates 
with a heavy frost; this would of course kill the plants 
if they were not protected. The plants should be given 
air regularly, and about four plants should be allowed 
to remain in each box until they are well established 
in the open ground, when they should be thinned to 
a stand of two or three plants to each hill. They must 
not be allowed to grow too fast while under glass. It 
is very important that they should gain in spread as 
well as in height. 
After the first of May the sash may be removed from 
NEW JERSEY CORN. Natural Size. Fig. J20. See Page254. 
the beds during the day, but it is always safest to cover 
them again at night. On several occasions the writer 
had seen all such tender plants killed in this latitude 
as late as May 15 by an unexpected freeze. A few 
days before the plants are transferred to the open 
ground the sash should be entirely stripped from the 
beds. The plants by this time should be in excellent 
condition for making, an early start, and if properly 
cultivated should advance the crop 10 to 15 days, be¬ 
sides avoiding to some extent the much-dreaded Melon 
blight. In setting the plants, if choice can be had, new 
soil is preferable; next to this, clover sod is without 
doubt the best. In either case, however, it should be a 
warm, sandy loam to correspond with the condition of 
the plant bed as nearly as possible. The ground should 
be plowed early and the hills made several days before 
setting the plants. A well composted horse manure 
should be used to the extent of two forkfuls in each 
hill. Cover the manure with soil, and form a hill that 
will slope to the south, making the north side three or 
four inches higher than the south, which should be 
about level with the surface. The plants are lifted 
from the bed by running a spade under them, place 
them in flats or on the bottom of the cart, and hauled 
to the place of planting. They arc set in the hill 
without removing the box. These, however, must be 
raised about one inch or more above the surface for 
an indefinite time, to serve as a protection against the 
cutworms, so troublesome about this season of the 
year. Seed may be planted in the hills at the time of 
setting; these may be pulled out if a good stand is 
secured. Guard against the attack of the striped bugs 
by a slight dusting of plaster. Cultivate frequently. 
As to varieties, the Jenny Lind is perhaps the best for 
early growing; it sets a greater number of fruits than 
other varieties, besides being very early. 
_ T. m. white. 
PLANTING R00T-PRUNED VINES. 
Some years ago a grape grower stated that he would 
plant a number of vines closely root-pruned and set in small 
holes. What was the result? 
Those grape roots I planted by the Stringfellow plan 
a few years ago did not do all 1 expected. Cutting them 
back so severely in root reduced them practically to a 
strong cutting again. I think if cuttings were rooted 
early in a hotbed and set at same time they would do 
nearly as well. 1 planted two acres of Concords by 
plowing deep furrows, going through each furrow three 
times. The roots were cut back to six inches. 1 hey 
were set in the bottom of furrow with buds about three 
inches below surface of ground. Set in this way 1 
have had better growth than any other method. We 
shall plant five acres black raspberries by this furrow 
method. We plant in eight-feet rows, three feet apart, 
setting yearling apple trees in every fourth row. As the 
plants grow we cultivate the dirt toward the rows to 
level off the furrows gradually. The last week of June 
we shall cultivate crosswise, leaving the furrows level. 
Then plant a hill of beans between each two plants and 
two rows between the eight-foot rows. 'I he beans 
should pay all cost for first season. h. e. m. 
SPREADING MANURE AS MADE. 
On page 176 Prof. Card would like some wise man to 
tell how much of the good effect of the buckwheat straw 
stack was due to actual plant food, and how much to 
other or mechanical action on the soil. I do not feel 
wise enough to do this perfectly or scientifically, but 1 
have studied enough upon this problem to cause me to 
change materially my system of manuring, to the better¬ 
ing of my soil and the advantage of my pocketbook. 
In my former article on the soil under that stack I 
spoke of the remarkably good effect of buckwheat straw 
in stack upon the soil underneath, and in near proximity 
to same. It is evident that the benefit is so much out 
of proportion to plant food contained in buckwheat 
straw, as by analysis given, which is low in food value, 
that at least a. great majority of the benefit must be 
due to mechanical action on the soil, or to conditions 
produced favorable to beneficent bacterial development 
therein. On this hypothesis l commenced to work seek¬ 
ing to produce the same beneficent condition in the 
soil by all the manure I could obtain. I changed my 
practice of allowing manure to ferment and waste 
about the barn in piles and now draw as made, 
and spread upon the fields, seeking to spread so 
as to cover the entire surface. This duplicates 
as near as may be the stack conditions, and the 
results are bearing out in practice the correctness of the 
theory that the mechanical action of manure upon the 
soil is greater far than the actual plant food value con¬ 
tained therein. The first year I commenced to spread 
manure in September for corn, the following year con¬ 
tinued until May, drawing as fast as made. This field 
yielded from 100 bushels ears to 25 bushels per acre, 
the yield varying with the length of time the manure 
had been upon the ground, that spread from September 
to January producing the larger yield; soil worked in 
finer condition, better in every way. This experience 
was duplicated in 1906 exactly. The R. N.-Y. has told 
us that even a board laid upon the soil produces bene¬ 
ficent action. Certainly it is not the actual plant food 
in the board, but the condition produced favorable to 
nitrifying organisms. J. Q. M. 
Pennsylvania. 
