THE PICKLE WORM OR MELON 
WORM 
This pest seldom reaches any important stage in 
any area north of Missouri, but south of that line, 
it is often a difficult problem. It confines its work 
largely to Squash, Cantaloupe and Cucumber. 
The adult of this pest is a beautiful moth, with a 
wing spread of about one inch, brownish in color 
with a semi-transparent area in the middle of the 
wing. The melon worm may have three or four 
generations per year, requiring about a month to 
pass from the egg to adult stage. It lays small, 
flat elliptical white eggs, mostly on the blossoms, 
blossom buds or tender tip growth. Hatching in 
three to five days the young larvae soon begin 
their work. Although the damage of the young 
caterpillars may be considerable to the foliage and 
blossoms, the greater damage occurs to the fruits; 
as they become more mature, they bore into the 
melon, feeding as they bore. Since this is true, 
arsenical sprays are of very little value, contact 
poisons, such as nicotine, are also of little value. 
Therefore, naturally the preventive methods are 
most effective. The moths being strong fliers ro- 
tation of crops is almost futile. But destruction of 
infested fruits helps throughout the season and 
prompt destruction of vines and immature fruits 
after the crop has been gathered will reduce the 
number of moths to appear next season. Deep 
plowing during the fall and early winter will 
destroy many of the hibernating pupae. The above 
described predatory pest may be known in your 
particular section as the Cantaloupe Borer. 
FUSARIUM WILT 
Fusarium wilt is a serious soil-borne disease of 
watermelons and is not transferable on the seed. 
The disease cannot be controlled in the field, ex- 
cept by planting wilt-resistant varieties, such as 
the following: Blacklee No. 45, Hawksbury No. 8, 
Missouri Queen No. 52, Wilt Proof Kleckley No. 6, 
Variety No. 19, The Miles Melon No. 54 and Iron- 
sides No. 56. 
SEED PER ACRE 
We recommend one pound of seed per acre of 
any variety. There are 4,760 average seed to the 
pound. This will plant 303 hills twelve by twelve 
putting about 15 seeds to the hill, there being 
43,560 feet in an acre. By putting enough seed to 
the hill and later thinning to two of the best plants 
to the hill, the outside plants will act as a protection 
to the inner plants, which often saves replanting 
the entire acreage. Thin when the plants have 
four leaves. 
42 WILLHITE MELON SEED FARMS, Poolville, Texas 
CONTROL OF THE MELON APHIS 
OR HONEY DEW 
The melon aphid is by far the most abundant 
and destructive aphid affecting watermelons, 
cantaloupes and cucumbers that we have and 
very often will be present on some vines far in 
advance of the grower's knowledge. However the 
presence of ladybugs or lady beetles and ants 
about the melon plants is almost a sure sign that 
the melon aphid is present also. The lady beetles 
feed on the aphids themselves and the ants upon 
the honeydew excreted by them. When your 
vines become badly infested the leaves and 
young fruit become covered with a sticky coat of 
this excretion. When this has developed to such a 
degree that the leaves begin to curl up, the plant 
rarely recovers enough to make normal growth 
even if the insects are controlled. 
The attack of the melon aphid may occur in the 
early spring or later, depending upon climatic 
conditions and may continue throughout the en- 
tire growing period. In the South, very often a few 
of these insects appear almost as soon as the mel- 
ons are up. From these few great multitudes will 
develop as soon as the weather becomes warmer. 
To control the melon aphid it is necessary to 
employ a contact insecticide, what is meant by 
that is some substance that kills when it touches 
the body of the insect. The effectiveness of a con- 
tact dust or spray depends upon the thoroughness 
of its application. That is the reason that in spray- 
ing or dusting for the melon aphid, the underside 
of the leaf must be dusted as this is where during 
the day that you will find this insect, only coming 
out on top of the leaf in the cool of the night hours. 
Our method of control for the melon aphid is the 
use of Black Leaf 40 and lime, applied to the 
underside of the leaves. This dusting should be 
done very early in the morning, while the dew 
is still on your vines, as the dust will have a tend- 
ency to cling to the leaf longer when applied at 
this time. It is very important that you spray early 
before your plants begin to vine, by killing the 
very first aphids that appear, you can control this 
insect much easier. If you begin in time two or 
three dustings are usually sufficient to hold them 
in check until the melons mature. This mixture of 
Black Leaf 40 and lime costs very little, one two- 
pound can of Black Leaf 40 costs only $4.50 and 
when added to 36 pounds of lime will make you 
38 pounds of dust that is very deadly to the aphid 
when applied in the right manner. Get lime at 
lumber yard. Let us again caution you to begin 
dusting for the melon aphid very early and do not 
wait until your vines become large and well cov- 
ered with honeydew, at which period very little 
can be done. 
Weatherford, Texas 
