Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1866-06-07
farners 4seaftnalli.
avawins MeIons.

.ftan exceedingly difncuis 70
~ - ~ ,s~oa crop of superior mel
sro" s,a.. and sometimes . farmer ,sns
ont;rely or,ss to obtain a remunela.lng
ensne And even those persons VINO
crop. nansrally succeeded in raising
nave .:s,i crops. sometimes fail to
Sane bouna,s melons of large size and
sufi,ciently abundant to compensate
sor the expense incurred in the cult
..;on ,o On of the crop. Some gardeners
hsye insisted that melons cannot be
~ n-o5uced successfully on heavy soiis.l
IN which there is 8 large proporeon
- nf clsy Yet the experience OF some
uract;esl ~ men is opposed to this the
pry Mr. Vanriper, OF haeken-
.ack New Jersey, communicates 70
the New York Times his system OF
manaoement, by which he has been
a,n;n ently successful in rasing large
crons of choice melons, on the heavy
so;Is of New Jersey. which are COM
nosed largely of clay, while many
ptbers who did not adopt his system
of management, failed to raise crop
that was at all satisfactory. He pre-
fers stubble ground, which he plows
deem. pulyerizing every part thor
ouehly, making the entire ground
lioht and porous as possible. he
niows in q liberal dressing OF strawy
msnure. which not only renders the
so,l porous. but tends to retain the
moisture in hot and dry.weather. A
Iaroe sboyel-full of well-rotted barn
ward manure, or other good compost,
is well incorporated with the soil
where the seed is deposited. In
stead of planting the seeds by COW
erino them with hoe, every one is
stuck, germ downward, in its place,
which is the only true way TO plant
all such seeds. He makes > liberal
use of bog ashes sprinkled around
every hill. which, he thinks, are al
most Indispensable in the production
of GOOD melons. In case any OF the
ulants fail to grow luxuriandy, as
they frequently do, more seed is put
in at once. The ground Is kept
clean by cultivating and hoeing, and
great care is exercised not to root
prune the plants and tear the vines
tn pieces. When the runners have
spread about two or three feet each
way. and some of the melons have
set. he folds the vines of each hill all
up in n small compass, and cultivates
the ground with care, hoeing care
fully nesr the hills, thus extermina-
ting every weed and grass. The
vines are then spread out in their
original positions, without separa-
ting snv Of the best melons from the
plants. When there is a large num-
ber of blossoms, or. melons, most of
them are pinched of, in order to
throw the nourishment all into the
stems of a few of the largest and
best. Mr.. Vanriper says that mel.
ems may be raised on, heayy land, If
properly cultivated and managed,
about as well as On soils of q light
and sandy character. Those farmers
who have an abundance OF coarse
barn-yard manure, large proportion
of which is cornstalks, may place q
liberal quantity beneath each hill,
and mingle some sand and fine chip
manure with the soil, where the
ground is composed largely of clay.
Four plants in each hill will yield
more melons Inan twice That number.
Two handfuls Of fnely-pulverized
hen-manure sprinkled around each
hill, over an area of two feet in di-
ameter, will have an excellent effect
in promoting luxuriant growth of
the plants and in developing the
fruit.