1912. 
TirllS RURAL NEW-YOKKEK 
279 
COLD FRAME MELON CULTURE. 
Part II. 
Plants that turn yellow in the beds 
can be greatly benefited by the use of 
a good grade of commercial fertilizer, 
dusted among the plants and hoed in the 
soil with the weeders. Finely pulver¬ 
ized hen manure is better, but should be 
used with great care. Where it is used, 
the beds should not be closed tightly. 
The free ammonia must be allowed to 
escape or the plants will be injured. We 
have the same trouble with the use of 
Peruvian guano. If the guano is used 
it must be used very sparingly, just 
dusting it between the plants and work¬ 
ing it into the soil with the weeders. In 
each case plants should be well watered 
after this is done. As the plants get 
older and larger they should be given 
more air and ventilation, running the 
sash down a. few feet and gradually 
getting them accustomed to the outside 
air. In windy times the little blocks 
should be used. As the days get hot and 
plants get large they require more water, 
especially along the upper side of the 
beds. The reflection of the sun and the 
evaporation of the moisture is very great 
these hot days, and it is on such days 
that the beds have to be closely watched 
and water used when needed. Not much 
water will be needed on the lower sides 
of the beds. No more water should be 
used than necessary—too much water 
is apt to be injurious. A nice warm 
shower is nice for the plants and often 
saves a job of watering. We use large 
capacity tanks on wagons with hose at¬ 
tachment, with sufficient elevation to 
force the water well across the bed. Inch 
and half hose is used with a large sized 
rosette, with the holes opened to the size 
of an eight-penny nail. The hose is gen¬ 
erally about 25 feet long. We use the 
flat bed in preference to the double bed 
built on the greenhouse style, as they 
are more convenient and cheaper, an¬ 
swering the purpose as well. When 
plants are four to five weeks old they 
should have three or four full-sized 
leaves and runners from two to six 
inches long, and present a solid mass of 
plants in the bed, as shown in the picture 
showing one section of a bed. 
Plants are well sprayed with Bordeaux 
mixture while yet in the beds, and are 
well watered before going to the fieid. 
We try to give them a few days of 
exposure to the open air before trans¬ 
planting, as they seem to stand trans¬ 
planting better if hardened up a little. 
Fig. 67 showed how we handle the 
plants from the beds to the wagon. Af¬ 
ter a few plants are removed from th<j 
beds by hand, the remainder are handled 
four boxes at a time on a shovel or 
fork, slipping the shovel under the four 
boxes and passing them up to the loader. 
The loader catching the four boxes be¬ 
tween the hands and placing them upon 
the wagon and the load of from three 
to four hundred boxes is off for the 
field as shown in Fig. 67, where the 
land has previously been prepared with 
liberal use of fertilizers for the plants. 
The loads are driven into the field and 
the unloaders carry the boxes each way 
and place them where hills or cross 
marks are. The spade man opens the 
holes and the boys and girls cut the cor¬ 
ners of the boxes and the setters follow 
along and carefully remove the old box, 
placing the bulb: of compost and little 
white roots in the ground by hand, not 
pressing upon the soil about the plant 
hard enough to in any way break apart 
this lump of compost, thus injuring the 
roots. -The plant should never wilt and 
if weather conditions are favorable, 
should* never stop growing. 
We generally expect to gain from two 
to three weeks by this process over seed 
planted in open field. This, however, 
does not hold good in the extreme South, 
or in the arid regions of the West. The 
cold nights in those sections seem to re¬ 
tard the growth of transplanted plants. 
Melon plants should never be transplant¬ 
ed in the fields when the ground is too 
wet or in a soppy condition. It might be 
of interest to readers of this article to 
know about what acreage could be trans¬ 
planted in a day. We have set out a field 
of 20 acres with five teams and about 
20 hands, but the haul was not a long 
one. We have often moved plants two 
miles on wagons, and once I shipped a 
carload of them some distance to a point 
where I was short of plants, decking the 
car and getting in several thousand. They 
went through all right and grew off 
nicely. *1 mention this to show the possi¬ 
bilities of the work. Where there is not 
too much sod we open the rows with a 
lister, not using the spade at all, using 
hoes to fill the soil in about the plants. 
One pest that has to be looked- after 
about this time is the striped cucumber 
beetle. I have had good success in driv¬ 
ing them out of the fields with air-slaked 
lime and road dust, if it can be had, 
equal parts. To this I add a little sul¬ 
phur and sprinkle the whole mass with a 
little turpentine and carbolic acid. This, 
when thoroughly mixed, is dusted upon 
the plants. This is better than tobacco 
dust, although tobacco dust and air- 
slaked lime or land plaster is good. 
Early plantings of squash about the beds 
and along the driveways are good lo 
draw them from- the melons, and when 
covered with bugs one can tramp the 
whole mass in the ground, thus destroy¬ 
ing thousands of them. Where one has 
but a small field, one can get out early 
in the morning, or damp days, when 
they do not fly badly and kill them off. 
Paris green and water is quite good, but 
if one makes the solution strong enough 
to poison the bugs, he is apt to injure the 
plants. These transplanted plants often 
turn yellow, and look a bit discourag¬ 
ing, caused by unseasonable weather, 
but with good culture and care these 
sick-looking plants will soon recover and 
make a growth that will be surprising. 
So I say, don’t be discouraged about 
these plants, for they will get to the front 
at fruiting time. Begin cultivation and 
hoeing as soon as plants are in the field, 
if the soil is in condition. Ground should 
not be worked in cold spells when there 
is liability of frosts. Upon two occa¬ 
sions we covered small early plantings 
when it was snowing and saved them. 
Once we used two-pound butter cups and 
once brown wrapping papers—several 
thousand of them. In both instances the 
crops were very profitable. Plowever, I 
do not advise transplanting until all dan¬ 
ger of frost is over. paul rose. 
MELON PLANTS IN THE COLD FRAMES. 
Save Fertilizer Money 
Improve your soil- 
money for fertilizers. 
-increase your crops without paying out 
_ _ We can show you how to restore and increase 
fertility in your land at an enormous saving over the cost of present methods of fertilizing 
There are two ways of fertilizing your land. Of course, you know about the old way—paying out big money for 
commercial fertilizers—just like scattering real dollars over the ground. We haven’t much to say about the old method. 
E want to tell you about the new 
method—nature’s way. We want 
to show you how you can save $18.00 to 
$28.00 per acre on nitrate fertilizers—how 
you can get hack $10.00 to $15.00 for evei’y 
dollar you invest. We want to talk to you 
about the most important agricultural dis¬ 
covery of the 20th century. 
You undoubtedly know that nitrogen is one 
of the most essential things in the world, that 
it is demanded by all crops. It forms the chief 
material of all plants—it is the cause of the rich 
green color and the luxurious growth of all foli- 
age. The fertility of all soil is dependent upon the 
amount and form of its nitrogen contents. With¬ 
out nitrogen your crops cannot grow, your land 
will wear out; your farm will, in time, become 
almost worthless. The soil must be constantly 
supplied with nitrogen in one way or another. 
One way—the common way—to get nitrogen is 
to pay high prices for nitrate fertilizers. For 
instance, it costs about $50.00 to $60.00 per ton 
to fertilize with nitrate of soda; guano, dried 
blood, tankage, cotton seed meal, etc., are 
proportionally expensive. 
Buying nitrogen on that basis is merely swapping 
dollars. You payout as much, or more money than 
your crop is worth. There is a better way to get 
nitrogen—all your soil and crops can use—for almost 
nothing. This is nature’s method—a method of 
getting nitrogen that soil experts have learned how 
to use only within the past few years—a method 
that has been a pronounced success throughout the 
Old World and is now being taken advantage of 
by progressive farmers everywhere in America. 
according to our directions, will put 
150 to 200 pounds of pure nitrogen per 
acre into the soil for the benefit of cot- 
ton, grains and all other crops. This 
amount of nitrogen, if bought in commer¬ 
cial fertilizers, as you well know, would 
cost you $20.00 to $30.00. Why pay out good 
money for fertilizers when you have un¬ 
limited quantities of nitrogen right on your 
farm? Why spend $20.00 to $30.00 per acre 
for nitrate fertilizers when you can get more 
by investing $2.00 in “NITRAGIN”? 
By using “NITRAGIN’ 
tions you can 
according to our direc- 
Restores and Maintains Soil Fertility 
“NITRAGIN” is the key that unlocks the vast 
store-house of nitrogen in the air and enables you 
to provide your crops with an abundance of nitro¬ 
gen which is the most necessary of all plant foods 
and the most expensive to supply in the form of 
commei'cial fertilizers. 
In addition to supplying all the nitrogen needed 
by the growing crop, “NITRAGIN,” when used 
Enrich your land. 
Get bigger yields of grain, cotton and all other crops. 
Get a “catch” of alfalfa or clover almost anywhere. 
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Increase the cash value of your land. 
“NITRAGIN” will save you nine-tenths of the 
cost of nitrate fertilizers and all the cost of 
freight, hauling and spreading. It will put 
purer, better and more lasting available nitrates 
into your soil than is possible in any other way. 
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the cost with farmers, planters and growers who will write us at once, mailing the coupon below, carefully filled out° 
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J 
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Till Out and Mail Today 
German-American “NITRAGIN” Co., 
282 Mason St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 
Gentlemen : 
Please send me your booklet “Nitrogen Made 
On The Farm” and full particulars of your cost 
sharing offer to inoculate five acres of my land 
Name. 
Town. 
R. F. D. or P. O. Box. 
.State. 
