Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1883-06-14
The Fruit Of Creeping Vines.

Less attention is given by Wester.
farmers to the production of melons,
,quashes and pumpkins than is de-
served. Few of our large farmers pay
any attention to them. The boys gen.
orally raise few melons Oh the site
formerly occupied by hay-stack or
dung-hill, and the housewife often
plants few squash seed in the garden
where the vines run over the vegeta-
bles and do a large amount of harm.
Occasionally small farmer raises
pumpkins in a corn field, as is the
general custom in the Eastern and Mid
considerable amount of land in the pro-
duction of melons, squashes and pump
kins. Within the past few years several
farmers in the latitude of the capital of
his State, and further south, have
turned their attention to the raising
of melons as market crop
and found it profitable. The consump-
ton of melons is rapidly increasing in
all our cities and large towns. Chicago
has become one of the largest melon
markets in the world During their
season not only carloads but train
loads are required to supply the de-
mand. Melons have become a common
article of food. They are found on the
tables of hotels. restaurants and private
families. The old idea that they are
unwholesOme is no longer entertained.
Physicians now give testimony in favor
of their healthfulness. During the past
few years several professional garden
ers and amateurs have added to the
number of varieties and greatly inn
proved their quality. Unless farmer
liv%, in a location that has favorable
soft and climate and good facilities for
transportation, he may not find melons
a profitable crop to raise for the mar
ker, but every farmer should raise
enough for the supply of his own family.
Attention has also lately been given
to the production of squashes as mar
ket crop. They are in demand for the
supply of hotels and families at almost
all seasons of the year. Bakers now
bay large quantities of squashes for
making pies. Every few years there is
quite a demand for squashes to send to
the East. The shipment of squashes to
amount of them sent abroad will prob
ably increase from year to year. The
bookkeeping varieties like the Hub
bard can be preserved during the win
ter with little liability to loss, and they
always command Ugh prices in the.
spring. Many squashes are now canned
and dried. As a substitute for the
sweet potato the squash has no equal.
Eight tons of Hubbard squashes have
not unfrequently been raised on Il
single acre of highly-manured and
well-cultivated land. A crop like
this will pay as well as anything Il
farmer can produce when we
take into consideration the cost
of raising. The cost of seed
is very light and the expense of harvest
ing small. Squashes should be raised
on dry and warm soil. 1t should be
made very rich with wcll-rotted stable
manure. Wood ashes and bone-meal,
as well as superphosphate of lime, are
also excellent fertilizers for squashes, as
they are for melons and pumpkins. The
ground should be well pulverized. but
it need not be plowed deep. Poor
squashes Will be produced on clayey or
damp soil, and they can not be relied
on to keep long time. The planting
can be delayed till most of the field
crops are put in. Many plant in rows
eight or ten feet apart, and others in
hills eight or ten feet distant from each
other. But two plants are allowed to
grow in a hill, though five or six seeds
are planted. The hill is made slightly
sloping. like saucer, and the seed is
covered about an inch and half deep.
The earth above them is flattened, and
made tolerably compact with a hoe.
Pumpkins can be planted in the same
manner as squashes, or they can be
raised to good advantage in connection
with corn by dropping the seed in every
fourth or fifth hill. Melons, squashes
and pumpkins, when grown in the field,
require substantially the same cultiva-
ton. The soil about the plants should
be work with the hoe or garden trOwel,
and the earth between the hills kept
mellow and free from weeds and grass
by the employment of the cultivator,
which can be run both ways. After the
weather becomes quite warm the vines
will soon cover the ground, and it is
often advisable to shorten them so as to
prevent too much shade. The greatest
difficulty is with the little striped bug,
which in this latitude puts in his appear
ance early in June. The young plants
can be protected against this insect by
covering them with small box having
SIM gle pane of glass fitted to the
top and placed SO that the rain
will run off from it. Small
boxes covered with mosquito
netting answer the purpose nearly as
well. The plan of busting the young
plants when they are wet with dew with
land plaster is recommended to extern
sive growers. Some give no protection
to the plant, but seed literally so that
enough plants will survive the work of
the insects. A few plant the seed of in
ferior varieties of squashes in the vicin-
ity of the hills and in that way provide
food for the bugs. Melons, squashes
and pumpkins should be gathered be-
fore heavy frOsts occur. A portion of
the vina should be left on the stem and
they should be allowed to become dry
before they are placed under cover.
Squashes ard pumpkins are valuable as
food for fowls and animals. Cattle and
growing hogs will eat them in their
raw state, but it is better to cook them
for poultry and hogs that are being fat
tened. In many places pumpkins and
sIuashes furnish, next to grass, the
cheapest stock food that can be raised.
Chicago Times.