Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-11
MELON THREsHING TIME.

MELON THRESHING TIME
| A New Industry Among the Farmers
on the Kansas Plains.
From the Kansas City Star.
| This is watermelon year in Kansas. The
| fields that seem good for nothing in ordi
| nary seasons are producing great, luscious
| melons that are the wonder of the local
| newspapers, and furnish more refreshment
| than the gatherings on the rear steps Of
| the court house can dispose of. Prices,
| which early in the season We're ''2J cents
| straight" have gone down and down as the
melons grew larger and more numerous.
| until they have become 1.-TWO for nickel"
| or anything that the buyer would give. The
| melons have attained to enormous size,
| too. Whole wagon loads, in which the
| melons average fifty pounds in weight, are
common In the central and western towns.
while the king melon, raised at Clifton and
carefully shipped to the st. Louis market,
| is said to have weighed 107 pounds.
The sand hills that are found in many
| Kansas counties have been the best pro-
ducers. These sections are worthless for
corn, and make only fair farm lands under
| the best of circumstances. But when mel
ons are planted there is almost no end to
| the number that will be produced.
Ranking along with the sand hills are the
level plains out on the Arkansas river,
| through Kearney and Finny counties. The
soil is light and free from injurious grasses.
| Irrigation is possible from the bitches fed
| from the river. These bitches are near
| enough the Colorado line to get some of
| the water that flows by the Colorado irri-
gators, but is lost before it reaches the
| lower counties in central Kansas The
melon raising industry here has taken Il
new form. There not enough people to
eat hundreth part of the number that is
but the raise them for th,.
seed.
The men who raise melons for the seed
find it a very profitable undertaking. They
utilize the wide level fields and get from a
few acres as much ordinarily they could
from quarter section by the usual course
of farming. The object of the crop being
to secure seed, they do not give the tillage
necessary in producing melons for market,
but nevertheless have enormous yields. The
crop is planted from the middle of May to
JUne 20, and is, after being cultivated, well
irrigated twice-in a dry season three times.
AS the season progresses, the melons grow
so large that there is no possibility of
horse cultivation, and the farmer simply
waits for the ripening, which comes in the
latter part of August up to September 20.
During this month is the threshing
unique experience on the plains. Two kinds
OF machines are used, both of the same
principle-one run by hand and the other
by horse power. The latter is more COM
mon, and may be seen in operation on any
of the melon patches. The thresher has for
its basis a large cylinder, from the sur
face of which project many small iron
spikes, intended to tear and break the
melon. This cylinder is set at the bottom
of hopper, into which the melons are
thrown from wagons. Leading from the
cylinder is large seye-bottOmed inclined
carrier, over which the mingled melon pulp
and rinds worked the finer portion,
with the seeds, passing through and falling
| to the ground the rinds and pieces of
vines being shoveled out to heap as re-
fuse.
The melons are cut several days before
| the threshing, and are allowed to begin
to decay, SO that they may be more easily
broken and the seeds come out with less
difficulty. The pulp. which comes through
| the sieve, is placed in a vat or tank, where
water is added and the whole mass is left
to the bottom, and the pulp, which re-
mains on top, is ladled out, the seeds
washed, then spread on sheets in the sun
| to dry The pile of rinds, when 1t be-
comes too large for comfort, is not moved
the threshing machine is changed to
new location. The machine is run easily
| by two horses with a tumbling rod attach
ment.
is hauled around the field where the mel
ons have been previously cut and placed in
piles for its coming. The feeder, as in the
case of the larger machine, throws the
half-rotten melons against the Instructions
in the hopper of the machine with such
force that they are shattered. The cylin-
der is turned with a crank and the pulp.
seeds and rind come out below. The sieve
is on an incline and the seed pulp works
| through, to be caught and placed in pits in
the ground. Here the pulp rots and seeps
away into the soil, and the seeds may be
gathered and put on a sheet to dry. This
| is a cheap way to harvest the seeds, and
| in some ways is fully as satisfactory.
The seeds are sold to the Chicago and
eastern wholesale seed dealers. The price
varies from to Is cents pound, this
year being rather low on account of the
| large yield. The yield to the acre runs
| is worth only s. or less, makes good re-
| turn. With an income of $50 and the cost
| of raising estimated at IS to S12 an acre,
giving fair wages for all work. this makes
| one of the most profitable crops that the
western Kansas prairie lands can raise
| In addition to the melons threshed for
| seed there are few hundred to be sold for
| eating, often making quite an addition to
| the returns of the year. 1t is estimated by
| the farmers engaged that the crop Is far
| price is average one, as there Is sell
| dom failure.
| Kearney county is this year the center OF
| the melon raising district. Among the
| business are G. II. Dodds, Henry Entz and
! Lewis Kell of Lakin, A. X. Downing. John
| Freuser II. c. Wills and William Logan of
| Deerfield. These have from fifteen to sixty
| acres every year, and this year are thresh-
| ing large crops. Scores of farmers are en-
| tering the business, and it promises to be-
| come one of the leading industries of that
| portion of the west. While the distance
| from the market and the proximity to the
| Rocky Ford region prevent a satisfactory
| market for melons for eating. seed raising
| is easily handled and returns an income
| that is satisfactory.
Bottle-Rnised Watermelons.