The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-04-12
ALL ABOUT wArRRMzLoNs.

adds so much to the pleasure of farm
life during the hot summer days, we
wish to say something more about
watermelon raising
One of the spiciest, best written and
most entertaining bulletins we have
ever reviewed is No 3s of the Georgia
Station, by Prof, Hugh N. S5arnes, on
WRtermelons
On the all-important subject of mar
keting Prof. Starnss says that, like the
grape, the Watermelons must be ripe
when started to market, for it will not
ripen up after being pulled, as many
fruits will, and like the grape it cannot
stand long haul in wagon. Itmust
be grown near the shipping depot and
must be loaded carefully into wagon
padded with hay and having bolster
springs,
Gull carefully and have each carload
near as possible of the same siz9 Put
the sn sllest melons in the car first, be
cause they can stand the pressure best,
and if injured are smaller loss than the
heavy ones.
Look carefully into she conditions of
markets every day. Note the weather
at various points. Ship where it is hot
A cold northesster has caused many a
carload Of fine melons to be dumped
into the Chicago river. People will
not buy melons at such times. Use
the telegraph freely.
But much better than attempting to
wrestle singly with the problem of
selecting market judiciously would
be a reliance, for this purpose, on some
one OF the co operative shippers unions,
of which the American fruit growers
union is decidedly the most prominent
The very early and very late markets
yield the best prices.
It forced to list the three best melons
for chipping purposes it would be safe
TO rank Lork Bacon at tee head, closely
followed by KoIb Gem and Augusta
RRttlesnake, with Jones' Jumbo a good
fourth. None Of these are of first quail
ity, but they will all ''get there"-lf it's
anywhere within Q thousand miles
and sell, too, after they have arrived.
For early melons, Memphis. Augusta,
Sugarloaf, Augusta Rattlesnake.
For late melons, Boss, Scalybark,
Sweet heart.
For family use, Seminole, Sibley's
Triumph, Jordan's Gray Monarch and
Ramsay.
On the subjects of soil, fertiliz srs.
planting and culture Prof. Starnes
says:
A warm, light, sandy loan, well
drained, is the melons delight. The
watermelon is much more exacting in
this particular than the muskmelon.
Under no circumstances should
melons follow melons, and at least four
seasons should intervene before the
land is again devoted to this crop.
Preparation should be thorough, but
not necessarily deep, as the roots of
the melon are surface feeders. Com
plete pulverization is necessary. One
breaking and two effective harrowings,
with ''cutaway" or even smooth
ing" harrow, generally prove sufficient.
1t is always desirable that a crop of
cowpeas should precede melons.
The richer the soil the greater should
be the distanoe apart OF the hills; IL by
IL feet, 10 by 10 or 10 by 10 are the
usual distance employed.
Fertilizers should be applied in the
drill and bedded on not concentrated
in the hill
Planting should be done by hand and
should be shallow. Plenty of seed
should be used, and each seed pushed
down not deeper than an inch with the
forefnger.
After the plants are up they should
be thinned down to three or four to the
hill, and afterward to one, or at most
two vines. Cultivation should be shall
Iow-wlth cultivator or scrape
Never, under any circumstances,
turn a vine. More will be lost by so
doing than will be gained by giving
the plat an extra cultivation. This is
another ancestral practice; and doubt
less arises from the fact that the vines
when turned are apt to be carelessly
handled. If turned gently and deftly
to their original position it is difficult
to realize how they would be injured.
Any wedding that is found necessary
after this time should be effected with
a scythe blade, looping off the tops of
the weeds above the vines. They should
not even be pulled out by hand on &C
count of the danger OF mutilating the
vines, which generally hold them in q