The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-04-17
TO GROW THE BEST WATER
MELONS.

| We have, in the watermelons, a
crop which is assuming very great
Importance at the South, and every
/ year sees hundreds upon hundreds of
acres devoted to their production !;
while in June and July they go North
by the train loads, often bringing
fancy prices.
To be successful with waterme1ons
the grower must first select the
proper location. The land should be
well drained, Of a light sandy tex
ture, and naturally fertile. Freshly
cleaned land is a good place, or an
old straw field which has lain out a
number of years. We have also had
| good success on a pea vine stubble,
following in a rotation with cotton,
corn with peas sOwn between, fol
lowed by oats, with peas sOwn again
after the oats, to be cut for hay and
furnish the pea vine stubble for our
melons then cotton again, and so on.
In a foUr-year rotation like this,
melons are less likely to suffer from
that disease known as the Southern
blight. But even this far apart, they
are sometimes affected. Indeed this
matter is assuming very serious pro
portions, and a remedy for the wilt,
or blight, is needed.
1t seems that the Alabama Expert
ment Station is meeting with some
success in checking the disease by
an application of lime to the infected
land during the winter previous to
planting. They are, I believe, con-
tinuing these experiments, and final
result Of which will be looked for
ward to with interest. 1t can, at any
rate, do no harm to try lime at the
rate of say 40 bushels per acre; for
when one has to find a fresh piece of
land every year on which to plant
his melons, the land available for
this purpose soon becomes exhausted.
One of my neighbOrs who is quite
an extensive watermelon grower,
after having used up his own land in
this manner, has rented from year to
year all the land in his vicinity that
he could lay hands on, and what he
will dOn to find land free from the
fungus, l am unable to say. Any
way, the best we can do for the pres
ent is a wide rotation and the use of
lime.
After we have selected our lOca-
tiOn, the land should be we'll broken
with two-horse plow and worked
down fine. They lay off the rows ten
feet apart with double mouldboard
plow, going twice in the row, and
running as deep as possible,
Prof. w. F. Massey, of your North
Carolina Experiment Station, advo-
Gates the practice of checking off the
rows ten feet apart each way, throw
ing out a wide hole at the crossings,
in which half a bushel of compost
made from well-rOtted manure and
leaf mould from the woods, is placed.
This is spread evenly, and a handful
Of high grade guano worked in on
the surface, after which the hill is
made up, and the seed planted. We
mean to try this method on our farm
this year. We have, however, had
remarkably good success by spread
ing our manure the whole length of
the row in the deep burrows spoken
of above, stirring in little soil, and
then bedding by throwing four fur
rows together over the manure. We
then check across this bed every ten
feet and plant our seed at the cross
ings.
A little dab of manure in the hill
is not enough for melons, they need
lots of fertilizer, and they need it
spread out for a considerable dis
tance from the centre of the hill for
as long as the roots can reach out
and find fresh fields to conquer, the
vines will continue to grow. Every
one, however, is not able to obtain
manure, or compost for their melons
especially is this true with the large
grower, and guano if properly ap-
piled, can be made to answer very
nicely. The main advantage with
compost when put deep in the ground
is, that it holds more moisture for
the crop during a drouth.
I we'll remember one of the best
watermelon crops we ever raised
was fertilized with commercial fer
tilizer. The guano was applied in