Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1878 — Melons. [ARTICLE]

Melons.

We have received one or two communications about watermelons. There are various modes by which growers have succeeded in raising large and delicious melons. They require a yarn, dry soilground with a southern isprcferable. One mistake with many is in trying to raise them in grbund which is allowed to get foul after the vines begin to run. To insure success, let the ground be kept clear. We will give tho different modes: Break up the ground deep; harrow, check from ten to twelve feet apart. Have little or no hill; leave the hill concave. Six or eight inches from the hill put stable manure two and a half inches thick. Cultivate well; plant good seed; have no squashes, pumpkins or gourds near. Clip the ends of the vines if you wish large melons. Another plan: Plow and harrow and mark out eight feet each way. Then dig a hole on each square about eight or ten inches deep-and two feet across. Now fill up with rotten manure, pack it slightly with your foot and spread about one inch of good soil over the top; then drop your seeds and cover them one inch. Hog manure is a good fertilizer for melons. Work them well; thin out to three in a hill. This plan will raise line melons. Another: Plow your ground deeply and lay it off ton feet apart each way, digging holes two by two feet apart and one foot deep. Take good barn-yard manure and fill up to within three inches of the top, covering this manure with soil, so that the hill will be a little above the general level. Plant from eight to ten seeds in -a bilk When up, thin to two plants and cultivate light. If bugs trouble the vines, dissolve gum camphor in water and sprinkle the plants for a few days. Another plan is to prepare the ground as above, using chip manure, mixed with leached ashes and hen manure. After the plants are up, use a cultivator or double shovel. As the vines grow, draw surface earth to the plants—never draw tho earth from the vine, but replace with fresh dirt. Keep the ground clean with a hoc after the vines begin to run. One more plan: Plow the ground deep, harrow it and havo the surface soil in tine condition. The distance to plant should be regulated by the variety, some requiring mqre spaco than others. Let your hills be, say, rather flat, not more than two inches,. After the plants come up, give clean culture, keeping tho ground loose and level. — N. Y. Herald.