Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-07-31
4 prnrEcr ROCKY rom cANrALoupE.

a r ROCKY FORD cASTALoUPE.
full crop, and by this I mean to allow
from six to eight weeks of ripening sea.
son says q correspondent OF Orange
Judd Farmer In describing the growing
Of melons. After touching upon plant.
ing he says: l use a two row, pivot
wheel cultivator with which to do most
OF the horse cultiyating and begin as
soon as the melons are planted. not
waiting for the plants to come up.
Careful tests have proved that one
cultivation o week will develop twice
as much available nitrogen as compar.
ed with one cultivation In two weeks.
Cultivate deep and get farther away
from the hills as the vines grow. as the
roots grow as fast as the yines. l keep
the c%ultivator going as long as ! can
get through the field. using a nine tooth
%cultivator drawn by one horse 10 finish
the work. 81 that within a few days
after the last blowing the vines cover
the ground.
The first handwork should be done
with a rake three or four days after
planting and consists Of lightly raking
the surface Of each hill. taking care not
20 20 deep enough to disturb the seed.
This binders the grass or weeds and
e%nIivens the soil. The first hoeing Is
done as soon as the plants are well up
and should be very thorough. The
plants should first be thinned out so
that six TO eight remain. and leave
them about two inches apart. Stir the
soil thoroughly around the hill and
draw fresh mellow earth up to the bot
tom leaves of the plants.
The grower must then water lightly.
after which the burrows are plowed in
and must be made again fer each sue
cessiye watering until the last blowing,
when they must be carefully plowed
out and left for future waterings. The
second hoeing is dones when the plants
have four TO six leaves. and at this
time the hills are thinned to two plants,
taking care to select the strongest,
standing well apart. The hoeing is
done the same as before.
Care must be taken not K water too
often, is the plant gets into the habit
of looking for surface moisture and
starts 10 long taproots. while IL forced
to go down after the moisture il be
comes much more hardy and produces
q frsser melon OF better quality.
The third and last hoeing Is done
when the vines average about eighteen
inches long and can be easily lifted
with the left hand while the soil Is
stirred about two inches deep and
drawn to the roots with a light hoe in
the right hand.
Early In the season If bothered by
the small striped beetle we dust the
plants with fresh slaked lime by put
ting d small quantity Ia a loosely WOW
en- buriap sack and shaking 1t over the
hills. Ii bothered later by the melon
louise, l saturate the affected hills with
kerosene and then spread straw over
them and burn all the lice.
The vines must not be pulled, az the
lice will drop of on other vines and
then continue to spread. In order to be
able to destroy these at once when they
appear IL is quite necessary to look
after all of the field at least twice a
week.
FfGhtinE the Cucumber Beetle.
The larva of the cucumber beetle Is
subterranean IN habit. 1t il n slender.
wormllke creature. white with a dark
head. and 1t attacks the roots and
bores inside the stems OF the plants.
Good success In treating 1t has been
obtained by covering the young plants
with a square OF c~hecsecloth. kept
raised by two fexible sticks crossed ut
right angles and with the ends stuck
In the ground. The cheesecloth Is held
down easily by putting some earth on
the edges. BY the time the plants
have grown so as TO require the re-
movid Of the covering. many OF the
first brood or the beetle will have dis
appeared. AS an insecticide paris
green with land plaster tone pound to
fiftyi busted over the plants has prov
I'D more effective than several others
which have been recommended. But
wnen thc insects arg In very large
numbers the Dlauts are gradually eat-
en- q d although large numbers OF the
beetles are destroyed. Other remedies
which have given satisfaction in years
when there was not excessive abun-
dance Of the beetles are land plaster
and ashes ~impregnated with coal OH or
t~ugpenttne, scattered in small quaint
lies on each hill Tobacco dust from