SECRET IS SIMPLE 
The secret of growing melons is a simple one. 
It consists of hard work and a little common sense 
coupled with a few rules that must be learned. 
The time to begin next year’s crop is this year. 
The land should be selected and if possible 
planted to a crop of vetch or some other legume 
that can be turned under while green. Get it 
plowed before frost and cover all the green stuff. 
If you are to use fertilizer from the barn yard, get 
it out in November or December if possible. Well 
rotted straw makes excellent fertilizer if placed in 
the row early enough. Do not try putting unrotted 
fertilizer in the row after February, and not after 
January if you can help it. Leaves from the forest 
make excellent fertilizer if placed in the ground 
early and well covered. When the field is 
fertilized with barnyard or straw fertilizer, a 
small application of acid phosphate and cotton- 
seed meal will help. The principal thing is to 
have your land in good shape and properly ter- 
raced. We try to terrace our land so that each 
row is its own terrace. This makes less trouble 
with hard rains and also makes a saving when 
the showers come during the dry time. Each row 
holds its own water and helps the vines do their 
duty. Every vine should be trained and laid with 
the row. Then do not fail to cultivate shallow 
after the first plowing. Some have asked how 
long we plow and we tell them that we plow until 
we can carry a ripe melon home. The truth of 
the matter is that the middles should be harrowed 
each week whether it rains or not; the more often 
the ground is stirred lightly, the better it is for the 
melons. Care should be exercised not to allow 
the plow to run deep enough to interfere with the 
root system. It is not uncommon for feeder roots 
to reach a distance of twenty feet from the tap 
root and in its search for food it covers almost the 
entire subsoil just at the top of the hard pan. 
BLACK LEAF 40 
We have the BLACK LEAF 40 in 
the liquid form only. That is what we 
use to mix our dust. 1 oz. bottle, 35c; 
5 oz. bottle, $1.05; 1 Ib. bottle, $2.50; 
2 lb. can, $4.50; 5 lb. can, $8.90, 10 Ib. 
can, $13.75. All the above prices plus 
postage. 

HOW TO PROTECT THE MELONS 
AGAINST SUNBURN 
Spray or sprinkle common hydrated or pow- 
dered lime over the top side of all melons as they 
near the ripening period. This method was acci- 
dently discovered by one of our growers while 
spraying for lice. It was noticed that all melons 
that had a good coat of lime did not sunbum, 
while those not coated, burned badly. This pure 
white lime reflects the heat back from the melon, 
thus preventing sunburn. 
PRUNING NECESSARY 
The greatest essential is to use the knife. The 
plant should not be called on to support more 
melons than it can mature well. At first, let two 
well-formed melons stay. When they are about 
grown, two more can be allowed to start. Never 
allow a crooked or deformed melon to stay on the 
vine. A necked melon is a sure sign that the man 
who grew it did not know his business. If it had 
been cut off when small, a straight, nice melon 
could have been set. A crooked melon is just that 
much loss as it is neither fit to eat nor fit to sell. 
The amateur grower seems to be afraid to prune 
the melons from the vine and consequently lets his 
vine attempt to bring ten to twelve melons to ma- 
turity at one time. With 300 to 350 hills to the 
acre and four to six melons to the hill during the 
season, the grower can expect from twelve to fif- 
teen hundred melons per acre when the crop is 
good. Always let a melon stay on the vine until 
it is ripe. Lots of money is lost by getting too 
anxious and cutting it before it is ripe. 
Watch for Honey Dew and fight it at the very 
first appearance. The Aphis, or louse, which 
causes the Honey Dew, multiplies with incredible 
rapidity and unless you fight it early you will 
surely have a long fight to save your vines. The 
fields we cultivate are a revelation to anyone not 
familiar with melon raising; forty acres of vines 
and not a melon showing. It looks as if there 
were none in the field; closer inspection showed 
that the vines concealed melons almost thick 
enough to walk on. It was estimated that on forty 
acres there were 10,000 melons that weighed more 
than thirty-five pounds and almost as many more 
that would weigh that much at maturity. The 
rank vines concealed regular giants of their kind, 
melons that will tip the beam at above sixty 
pounds and some that reached toward eighty and 
ninety, and never a faulty or deformed one in 
the lot. 
HOW TO GROW THE BIG ONES 
Leave only two of the best young melons on 
the vine. Select the melons to leave when vines 
are about eight feet long, keeping all melons 
pulled off until vines get size, then leave just two 
of the best. When those ripen leave two more. 
Never plant melons on same land more than one 
time in five years unless you have deep bottom 
land, and then not more than two years in suc- 
cession. 

"Good Pure Seed from Grower to Grower" 
39 
