4 
Bulletin 95. 
early cantaloupes as does the care and cultivation in handling the 
crop. 
Soil .—Experience has proven that a sandy loam is the soil 
best suited for cantaloupes, and that its condition of tilth and the 
available fertility are the prime essentials in bringing cantaloupes 
to quick maturity. 
The secret of getting soil in that ashy, mellow condition so 
desirable for cantaloupes is largely one of experience, for hardly 
two farms can be handled the same. In general, there must be 
moisture in the soil over winter to get the disintegrating effect of 
frost, and plowing should not be done until the ground is dry 
enough to pulverize mellow. Barnyard manure has long been 
the means of supplying fertility to force cantaloupes to early ma¬ 
turity; but owing to the limit of its supply, crop rotation became 
necessary, and in 1896 the Sub-Experiment Station at Rocky Ford 
made the first test of cantaloupes on alfalfa sod, which resulted in 
signal success, demonstrating that alfalfa sod affords ideal soil con¬ 
ditions for cantaloupes both in early production and in securing a 
big yield. The test was on a plat of one acre, which was planted 
May 4 th in hills six feet each way and received ordinary care; the 
plat having three hoeings, four cultivations and seven irrigation^ 
during the season. The first crate of ripe cantaloupes was mar¬ 
keted July 29 th, only one day later than the earliest record ever 
made at Rocky Ford with cantaloupes on well manured ground. 
The vines made a remarkably uniform growth and the yield was 
three hundred and fifty standard crates per acre, nearly double the 
normal yield on ordinary soil. Since then alfalfa sod has been in 
general nse for cantaloupes in the crop rotations of the Arkansas 
Valley. 
Its relative value over old, worn-out land is well contrasted in 
Plate 1 , which is a photo taken July 7 th on the farm of I. D. Hale; 
the rows on the right were planted on alfalfa sod at the same time 
and had the same care as the balance of the field. 
The same contrast is often seen in land that has been growing 
beets and that which has not, the beet ground being unfavorable 
for early cantaloupes; indeed, experience of four years at Rocky 
Ford since the introduction of the beet crop testifies that it is use¬ 
less to expect early cantaloupes on beet ground, although if the 
land is not too much exhausted, very satisfactory late cantaloupes 
have been grown after beets. 
During the season of 1904 several commercial fertilizers have 
been tried extensively to supply the needed elements for growing 
early cantaloupes on beet ground, but the results are so conflicting 
that a conclusion is not warranted, except that the use of the fer¬ 
tilizer in and under the hill at planting time is extremely haz¬ 
ardous. 
