470 
American Agriculturist, June 2,1923 
FROM A KODAK NEGATIVE 
Kodak on the Farm 
Pictures play a definite part in the busi¬ 
ness of farming. Take as an example pictures 
of stock like the accompanying illustra¬ 
tion. Sent in letters they interest faraway 
prospects, and for your own records, they 
help you keep track of your business. 
It’s easy to make good pictures the Kodak 
. way—it reduces photography to simple terms. 
Autographic Kodaks $ 6-50 
At your dealer s 
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y. 
Long-Time Farm Loans 
This Bank has loaned to the farmers in New England, 
New York and New Jersey over $25,000,000 and has re¬ 
turned to them over $137,000 in dividends. 
If you operate your own farm or intend to purchase a farm, we are 
prepared to make a long-time, easy-payment loan. Interest at 5V2%. 
Payments semi-annually. Loans run for 33 years but can be paid at 
borrowers’ option any time after 5 years. Local represent?itive in 
every district. 
Look ahead! If you will need a loan this season write now for infomnatipn. 
The FEDERAL LAND BANK o/SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
Serving New England, New York and New Jersey 
—CIDER PRESSES— 
Farquhar Hydraulic Cider Presses 
are strongly built, have heavy pressure 
and get the maximum amount of cider. 
Easily installed, occupy little space and 
are operated with average labor and 
farm power. 
Built in sizes for best custom work; for 
canning, preserving and vinegar factories. 
Requires small investment; low 
operating costs and pays hand¬ 
some dividends. 
Ask for Bulletin and Rock- ! 
Bottom Price 
A. B. Farquhar Co. 
Limited 
Box 131 
York, Pa. 
II 
Write for our 
new Implement Book and 
read what is said of the 
New Potato Digger and Lime Sower. 
$112,000 Extra Profit 
That’s what Wisconsin farmers made in 
a season by grading potatoes, accgrding 
to statement of Mr. L. D, Foster, Asst. 
Director, Dept, of Markets. 
You, too, can get g5c to 50c more per 
sack for Boggs machine-graded than for 
hand-graded potatoes. 
r* c potato 
grader 
The Standard Grader 
does the manual labor of three to five men. En¬ 
ables you to grade and sort 75 to 700 bushels of 
potatoes or onions per hour into two Govern¬ 
ment sizes with less than 3% variation in size. 
Also eliminates culls and dirt. 
«»l Six models, $40 and up. Write for booklet. 
BOGGS MFG. CORP. 
30 Main St. 
Atlanta, N. Y. 
Factories: 
Atlanta, N. Y. 
Detroit, Minn, 
How I Grow Melons 
Improving the Variety Simplifies Marketing Problems 
T he Edefi Gem can- By T. M. SMITH never cultivated or 
taloupe has been handled while wet. 
grown successfully in this section of 
New Jersey for a long time. The first 
grown were planted for family use. 
The best specimens were selected for 
seed and it was soon noticed that this 
home raised seed were much superior 
to the original stock. From these seed 
came the Improved Eden Gem canta¬ 
loupes. The melon is large with a 
rough coarse coating, which we call a 
net. The flesh is thick, green in color, 
but very sweet. 
When I began with this variety there 
were seldom any standard sized melons, 
mostly Jumbos and once in a while one 
would be too large to pack in this 
carrier. A larger carrier was re¬ 
quired for these, so the Extra Large 
carrier was made; the heads 16 inches 
square and the slats Jumbo length. 
This held 45 melons. By carefully 
selecting the largest, heaviest netted 
and sweetest melons year after year, 
about half of the crop is the Extra 
Large. Unless great care is taken in 
saving seed from only healthy well 
netted specimens the net will get lighter 
each year until the seed will run out. 
Selecting the Seed 
We like to get our seed from the 
first set of fruit, not necessarily from 
the first to ripen but those large, heavy, 
juicy fellows that bring the top prices. 
We can’t keep our best melons and sell 
them at the same time, but it pays us 
to save the seed from only the best— 
first, last and all the time. Whether 
buying or saving seed, get the best, 
de^l with a reliable seedsman and pay 
the price of good seed. Don’t wish you 
had. 
The sandy loam soil produces the 
finest melons. The heavier soils may 
sometimes grow them slightly larger 
but of inferior quality. Stable manure 
is applied broadcast at the rate of from 
10 to 20 tons to the acre. When com¬ 
post is used, this is put in the row. If 
cantaloupes follow sweet potatoes which 
have been manured, they do not re¬ 
quire as much as if the crop were 
corn with no manure. After potatoes, 
the land is double-disced in the spring, 
cutting the vines so that they do not 
interfere with cultivation. The acme 
hgirrow follows until the land is fine 
and level, when the rows are run out 
5 feet apart. 
Laying Out the Patch 
If the manure has been broadcasted, 
chicken manure is spread in the row. 
The rows are then covered with two 
light furrows and allowed to stand 
until just before planting time, when a 
light slab drag is run over the list to 
smooth the rows, giving fresh soil in 
which to plant, killing many weeds, 
and saving much handwork later. A 
marker is run cross-wise of the rows 
making the hills 3 feet apart in the 
rows, This distance has proved to be 
the most satisfactory after years of 
experimenting for the Improved Eden 
Gem as grown on our farm. The seeds 
are then planted about 1 inch deep, 
from 10 to 12 seeds to the hill. If the 
weather is cool or unfavorable another 
planting is made one week later. We 
think it is better to waste a few 
seeds than it is to have an irregular 
stand. 
As soon as the plants are up they are 
dusted with air-slaked or hydrated 
lime. Several daj?s later they are either 
dusted with an insecticide, or sprayed 
with arsenate of lead and Bordeaux. 
When the plants have three or more 
leaves. Black Leaf 40, sometimes is 
added to kill the aphis. This spraying 
or dusting is continued until the 
melons begin to net. 
Thinning the Plants 
We leave only one strong healthy 
plant to the hill. This will cover half 
of the row on each side. The roots 
have a better chance to feed than if 
there are two in a hill. Shallow level 
cultivation is regularly given, but the 
ground between the hills is cleaned 
with the hoe. When the vines prevent 
cultivation they are trained away from 
the middle of every other row so as to 
leave a space for the pickers to walk 
without injury to vines. The vines are 
When the cantaloupes will slip the 
stem, that is, will leave the vine with¬ 
out breaking it, is the proper time to 
pick them for market. If picked before, 
they will not ripen as they should, but 
if the melons are for home or local use, 
they may be left on the vines until they 
yellow. Pick a green cantaloupe one 
week before it would slip the stem and 
one that will slip the stem and put 
them both on ice for several days, then 
compare the two and you will get some 
idea of how the customer feels when he 
gets a green one. No matter how much 
sugar you add, will not make it taste 
as it should. This is one cause for the 
glutted markets. 
Harvesting and Grading 
The cantaloupes are picked each day 
except Sunday. One grade consists of 
the large heavy fellows with the rough 
jackets whose meat is good to the rind 
and when you get one you want more. 
The very fragrance before they are cut 
makes the mouth water. The other 
grade is fed to our hogs who do not 
grumble at the inferior quality but 
often squeal for more. Quality rather 
than quantity is the aim, for the best 
grade will sell for more than the culls 
and run of the crop mixed and sold. 
Some of our fruit would get too ripe 
to ship from Saturday to Monday, so 
I developed a trade in town. This 
takes care of the over-ripe fruit but 
now they get several carriers of this 
each day so there is no loss, but has 
helped advertise them. A nearby hotel 
is a regular customer and the guests 
often order cantaloupes to either send 
or carry home with them. 
Selling Direct 
The Improved Eden Gem has com¬ 
manded a premium on the New York 
market for a long time and most of 
them were shipped to one firm until 
several years ago. The rainy weather 
ruined most of the cantaloupes in this 
section but the Improved Gem were 
good. The market declined until there 
was no profit in shipping and we were 
about half through picking. A loss 
stared us in the face. I took a load 
of my best ripe cantaloupes to town 
and was told that I couldn’t sell them 
before I went. I laughed with them 
and told them we would see who was 
right. 
The first house where I stopped told 
me nothing doing, but I offered to 
give them one if it was not as I said 
it was, without charge, but if it was 
they would take a basket’. I soon sold 
out all I had and went back each day 
as long as the season lasted, getting 60 
cents per % bushel basket for them. 
Meanwhile the cashier of the bank 
heard of my success and when he re¬ 
ceived an inquiry for cantaloupes gave 
it to me. I filled the order, and have 
had that customer ever since, and he 
has been the means of my start in 
direct selling. 
One Brings Another 
Each customer is asked to send the 
name and address of any friend who 
would like to get good cantaloupes and' 
some write while others do not. But ^ 
the bible says, “Ask and ye shall ' 
receive” so no harm is done. The bulk 
of our trade comes from satisfied cus- ' 
tomers so that novy we ship practically > 
all of our melons direct. Our terms are 
cash with the order which gives less 
bookkeeping than otherwise. If it is 
impossible to fill the orders for any 
reason the money is refunded immedi¬ 
ately. A good name is not made in a 
day, but if we were to ship inferior 
cantaloupes the trade would get them, 
where they could depend on the 
quality. This is the way we hold our 
trade and add to it year after year, 
ship good fruit that is backed by the 
reputation of the farm. We have a 
good strain and stick to it, but are 
always trying to improve it and aim 
to produce the best melon grown. We 
have had hail storms that ruined the 
crop, squash bugs that made them 
ripen too soon and other incidentals too 
numerous to mention, but so far each 
year, has showed a profit growing these 
delicious melons. 
