428 
T*t RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 12, 1021 
Melon Culture is Coming Back 
Part 11 
Harvesting tub ('hop. —The ripe mel¬ 
ons were carefully graded and packed into 
barrels. The standard sized melon w;tg- 
on.s loaded exactly 21 barrels for the New 
York markets. Father says “Cornelius 
Cadmus used to d-n^a pair of small, 
spunky mules. Sometimes their feet 
would slip badly when they tried to pull 
the load off the old-fashioned ferryboats. 
P.ut when a heavy man would straddle 
each mule the team would walk right 
off. People thought that was some load, 
and when the Strehls of Fairlawn loaded 
44 barrels on each of two or three wag¬ 
ons a night the people thought the ferry¬ 
boats would surely sink.” Another thing 
father told me was “After the entire crop 
was harvested the vines were still green. 
They usually came out in blossom again 
and set a new lot of fruit. Just before 
frost all the little melons were picked 
and sold to be made into pickles.” 
The popular price those days was .$5 
per barrel—a lot of money then (quite a 
little now). Those large fruiting llaek- 
ensacks bore heavily, and so brought what 
was then considered to be tremendous re¬ 
turns per acre. 
Varieties.— We often hear people say 
“How I would like to get my teeth into 
one of the genuine old-fashioned Hacken¬ 
sack muskmelons.” That may be very 
well, but fact is that the more, recent in¬ 
troductions are far superior to what the 
Hackensack is today. Furthermore, the 
trade has learned to demand the smaller 
melons, commonly called cantaloupes. The 
quality is usually more luscious; they are 
better shippers and serve to better ad¬ 
vantage. The type most commonly 
shipped is the Rocky Ford (see left side 
of illustration, this page). The basket of 
melons shown in the middle look exactly 
like the old 1 Iackensacks, excepting that 
they are smaller than that variety. They 
are the Fordhoook, and are popular in 
Southern New Jersey and Delaware, es¬ 
pecially for the Philadelphia market. The 
basket of melons on the reader’s right 
represent a large type of the Rocky Ford 
which is grown in Colorado and Califor¬ 
nia. We find that the large strains of 
the Rocky Ford type fill up quicker and 
sell just as well. The very best variety 
we have yet found is the Simons Knight, 
sometimes called Simons Maryland. It 
is a strong grower, early, a heavy yielder. 
as some people recommend. In fact, we 
spray when the vines are about two feet 
long. About two weeks later we usually 
spray again. We find that blight makes 
its greatest headway when the fruit is de¬ 
veloping. At that time the strength of 
the plant is going into the fruits. This 
leaves the vines weak ; an easy victim to 
blight. We find that the greatest thing 
to hold off blight is .sulphate of ammonia. 
That material contains 25 per cent of am¬ 
monia, the ingredient that forces sturdy 
vine growth. The first application (150 
lbs. per acre) is made when the vines are 
six inches high. It is applied in a large 
circle arofmd the hill. The second appli¬ 
cation (250 lbs. per acre) is sown be¬ 
tween the rows at the last cultivation. 
At that time the vines of every two rows 
Three Standard Types of Melon .for Commercial Culture 
nets up attractively, good size and usually 
the flavor is delightfully, dclit-ious. 
Preventing Blight.— Blight is the 
next destructive agency to overcome; it 
must be guarded against or prevented. It 
cannot be cured after it becomes well es¬ 
tablished. We fight it in two ways. One 
is to force a strong, vigorous vine growth 
by applying side dressings of ammonium 
sulphate. The other method is to spray 
with Bordeaux. We don’t spray as often 
completely. The yield is assured and the 
quality depends upon the vigor of the 
vines at the time of ripening. 
Marketing Points.— In harvesting th.' 
crop we have found that the customers 
prefer to have the cantaloupes underripe 
lather than overripe. The demand for 
good cantaloupes, well graded, is usually 
brisk. Prices per package are usually 
twice what other vegetables bring. The 
yield per acre is twice that of a good 
yield of potatoes. The Eastern truckers 
can grow cantaloupes profitably if they 
consider the old reliable methods and in¬ 
corporate with them the advanced meth¬ 
ods of fertility, insect control and disease 
prevention. r. \v. debaun. 
are' turned together to permit close culti¬ 
vation in the alternate middles. Then the 
vines are turned into the cultivated mid¬ 
dles to permit cultivation in the other 
middles. The sulphate of ammonia is 
sown in the middles before the ground 
is cultivated. We formerly used nitrate 
of soda for this purpose, but we fouud 
that it was “short-lived.” The sulphate 
aefs just as quickly and last much longer. 
The strong vines soon cover the ground 
Hedge Plants for Kansas 
On nage 230, E. W. B. asks advice in 
regard to a defensive hedge for Kansas 
conditions. He says that privet is not a 
success and that from a pound of Japan¬ 
ese quince seed he raised but 15 seedlings, 
and all but one of these have since died 
If these conditions prevail there is some 
thing radically w.ong in the management. 
I have seen both the privet and the Jap¬ 
anese quince growing luxuriantly in Kan¬ 
sas, but neither is strong enough to turn 
a hungry range steer. In fact, there is 
no shrub that will do this until its canes 
become strong enough to match the 
strength of the steer. Thorns may aid, 
but alone they are not sufficient. The 
best way to make a defensive hedge <>f 
ornamental shrubs is to build a barbed 
wire fence and then set the shrubs upon 
each side, alternating as to distances. 
Then one can use whatever shrubs he 
pleases, and they will soon conceal the 
fence. Syringa. lilacs, golden Spiraea, 
Japanese honeysuckles and dozens <4 oth¬ 
ers will give good satisfaction. Roses, 
especially of the Dorothy Perkins type, 
are excellent, and even the hardy Hy¬ 
drangea may be used. But the quickest 
results will follow the planting of some 
quick-glowing vine, like woodbine, bitter¬ 
sweet, Hall’s honeysuckle or matrimony 
vine. 
Regarding the seeds of the Japanese 
quince, these are a good deal like apple 
seeds in appearance, and they have go.id 
germinating powers, but, like apple seeds, 
they must never be allowed to become dry. 
If not planted immediately after removal 
from the fruits, they must be stratified in 
damp sand. They would best be planted 
in a seed bed and afterwards transplanted 
to their permanent positions. This, in 
Kansas, should be done as early in the 
season as possible, for the dry atmosphere 
and dry soils of that State do not offer 
the most favorable conditions for the 
growth of newly planted seedlings. 
C. 0. o. 
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The Mapes F amous Fertilizers 
The Standard for Generations 
Basis Bone and Guano No Rock Used 
Availability Without Acidity 
Choicest forms of POTASH— Sulphates, Carbonates and Nitrates, all free from 
objectionable materials. For Tobacco, Fruits, etc., where these forms are required. 
Foreign Muriate for General Farm Crops 
Manufactured as in the past with precisely the same care as to the choiceness 
apd adaptability of the materials for the crops for which they are intended. 
Send direct to us or to our nearest agent for pamphlet and prices. 
f ,. .ji • 
The Mapes Formula & Peruvian Guano Co. 
Hartford Branch 
* ■ . - V 
230 State Street, Hartford, Conn. 
145 Liberty Street 
New York City, N. Y. 
