CANTALOUPE BLIGHT. 
1 3 
heavily manured with sheep manure and was planted the 
last of May. The work was done July 30th, at which 
time the vines were almost covering the ground. 
About the 25th of August, the blight was making rapid 
progress in all melon fields. The benefit derived from the 
spraying in this field was especially well marked. About 
Sept. 1, the unsprayed vines were giving up fully twice as 
many melons per day as the sprayed vines. The latter 
were ripening somewhat as they would under normal con¬ 
ditions, but the others, both vine and fruit, were deterior¬ 
ating rapidly. 
A portion of a field on the station that was planted the 
first of June, and which recuperated after the’ hail, was 
given two sprayings, one late in September and again about 
ten days after. The results confirm the results given else¬ 
where in regard to the efficacy of the Bordeaux for the 
control of the blight. 
That nothing but fresh lime should be used in the 
preparation of the Bordeaux was especially emphasized in 
this work. We used some air slaked lime, as it happened 
to be at hand, and a portion of the vines were badly injured 
by the spray, giving them much the appearance of a bad 
case of blight. There was one significant feature of this, 
the vines that were apparently badly injured by the spray 
recuperated and looked well afterwards, while those at¬ 
tacked by blight grew worse. 
There is evidence that the blight is more than a local 
trouble. The writer happened to visit some melon fields in 
the vicinity of Brighton, about September first, and there 
saw the blight doing serious injury. Reports and specimens 
of melon leaves sent me from Grand Junction indicate that 
the disease is well established there. The observations of 
this year verify those of last year in that the disease is well 
distributed over the entire Arkansas valley. Both the 
farmers and the shipping agents realize that the trouble is a 
serious one and are considering its consequences. That 
the trouble was only temporary is no longer held as a 
tenable opinion, but rather one demanding such treatment 
as will lessen its ravages. 
The weather conditions have been the most favorable 
for a study of the disease of any I have ever had in that it 
was more of a typical season. Two of the former seasons 
were extremely wet during Juiy and August and that of 
1 goo was very dry. The rain of the last season was moderate 
in amount and well distributed. Two features were promi¬ 
nently brought out this year. One was to avoid the use of 
any heating manure previous to planting melons and the 
