tfanialoupfL 
Rocky Ford, Home of Cantaloupes. 
Market Growers' Prices, Page 90. 
Growing 
Cantaloupes 
The land should be a sandy loam, avoiding both too sandy and too 
heavy soil. 
If possible, do not plant where cantaloupes were grown previously 
within three or four years. 
A heavy oat stubble plowed under is one of the first locations. Bean land is usually 
very good. The first year after alfalfa or clover is not good as a rule. The melons grow 
too soft and are irregular in size, shape, netting and quality. The second year after 
alfalfa or clover is usually very good. 
Fall plowing is best, followed in the spring with several discings. 
If planted in hills the rows should be 5 to 6 feet apart each way. Cross cultivating 
improves the yield, quality and earliness. 
Plant ten to twelve seeds to the hill about 2 inches deep and thin to one or two 
plants when they have 5 or 6 leaves. 
If drilled in rows 5 to 6 feet apart thin to one plant every 3 or 4 feet. 
Hoe carefully around the plants; keep free from weeds and cultivate often. 
We have found 8 or 10 cultivations at least should be given and more would be better. 
We experimented upon a small area in the center of a large field, cultivating it 
some twenty times and the cantaloupes began ripening a week earlier, were of better 
quality and yielded much heavier. 
After the vines reach so far across the row that you can no longer cultivate, the 
ends of the vines should be carefully turned back and an additional cultivation given. A 
knife attached to a one-horse cultivator is best for this. 
Cultivate shallow close to the plants and deeper farther away. 
The main spread of roots is on the harder ground under the plowed ground. If you 
plow only 3 or 4 inches deep that will determine the depth to the main spreading roots 
and very shallow cultivating will be necessary or the crop will be ruined, while if you 
plow 7 or 8 inches deep you can cultivate 5 or 6 inches deep to good advantage. Don’t 
expect an average good crop from too shallow plowing. 
In other words: Prepare a deep, well settled and finely pulverized seed bed. 
If under irrigation, cantaloupes should be watered regularly about every two weeks. 
Early in the season furrows should be close to the plants and water should be allowed to 
run just long enough to moisten the soil beyond the plant row. Later furrows may be 
farther away from the plants. Do not allow the water to remain in the furrows too 
long so that the soil becomes water-logged. Continue irrigating through the ripening 
season to keep the vines thrifty. 
Controlling 
Insects 
The controlling of insects on your cantaloupe crops will increase your 
profits. If pests are allowed to multiply unhampered, entire fields 
are often ruined. The striped cucumber beetle and aphis are the 
cantaloupe’s worst enemies. The striped cucumber beetle often 
appears at the time plants are coming up. Turn to page 87 and you will find 
some suggestions as to killing them. Aphis or plant lice are easily controlled if all 
growers in each district dust with Aphicide as soon as these pests appear. If one grower 
in a neighborhood allows his field to become a breeding place for aphis they soon spread 
to the fields of others in the neighborhood, making control difficult. With some melons 
like Honey Dew, the melons may become discolored by the aphis and unmarketable, 
even though the plants are not killed. 
Cantaloupe 
Worms 
Cantaloupe growers in the South Atlantic states at times encounter 
serious trouble from pickle worms boring into the ripened fruits, 
making them unsightly and not fit for marketing. We suggest the 
following control measures: 
Destroy all crop refuse at the end of the season and fall plow the ground. Four 
rows of summer squash should be planted and well distributed among each acre of 
melons. This serves as a trap crop and the moths are attracted to the large squash 
bloom where they lay their eggs. When these are thoroughly infested, pull the squash 
plants and burn. Successive plantings of squash should be made throughout the season 
to provide an abundance of blooms to attract the moths. Dusting is fairly successful. 
The worms feed extensively on the young leaf buds before tunneling into the fruits, 
stems and vines. Dust the tender leaf buds every 7 days as long as any worms are 
present using extreme care that the growing tips of the plants are well covered with 
the dust. Use Aphicide No. 21 or Aphicide Pyronic. 
Varieties Our choice of cantaloupes for shipping would be one of the better strains 
of Hale’s Best for early and Superfecto for late. Hale’s Best No. 36 is 
probably the best for general use. Some shippers prefer a round melon 
for crating and for this H. B. No. 112 does nicely. If most of the H. B.’s grow too large 
in your district and a slightly smaller melon is preferable, try the H. B. No. 10. For 
roadside market and bulk hauling in trucks or if an extremely large melon is required, 
use the Original or Jumbo Strain H. B. H. B. 1937 is recommended to growers who 
wish an exceptionally heavy netted melon. In our opinion Burrell’s Superfecto is the 
best of the Perfecto type of melons, and the one we recommend for main crop. Its 
vigorous vine withstands rust better than any other sort. 
Suggestions to With all cantaloupes the customer develops an appetite and buys 
Shi s regularly if the melons are always good, but poor melons destroy 
omppers the ^esi re for melons and those who would be good buyers turn 
to peaches and other fruits instead. 
Don’t pick cantaloupes green. 
Don’t pick cantaloupes from rusted vines. 
Don’t pick cantaloupes from aphis covered vines. 
Don’t pack melons you would not buy to eat yourself if you were the customer. 
Don’t buy cheap seed. Your crop costs about fifty dollars per acre, and often more, 
considering rental of land, before you begin to pick, and poor seed may cut the value 
of the crop in two and even more. Two to four dollars per acre for the best seeds is 
small compared with other costs. Buy the best seed. 
“Plant seeds of known origin.’’ 
We grow the cantaloupe seed we sell. 
36 
D. V. Burrell Seed Growers Co., Rocky Ford, Colo 
