Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1908-07-09

One Woman's Melon Farm.
Some Of the best cantaloupes sold
in New York during the last four
seasons wers raised by q Maryland
woman who manages her own farm
and negotiates the sale Of the me-
Ions. This season she has one hun
dred acres planted In Melted Gems
and she has as many private orders
as she expects % be able TO fill.
my planting cantaloupes is the re-
sult OF not being able 10 pay expenses
growing tobacco" declared the
Maryland woman. The farm came
70 me, BY inhsritanss togssher with
. debt Of more than 800 and heavy
mortgage.
my father had been q tobacco
planter and expected me 10 follow In
his footsteps. but when l came TO
look the situation square in the face
l decided TO try some other crop on
the side. II that paid-well, as
don't use tobacco in any form | was
not at ell averse TO devoting myself
70 raising some other crop.
On investigating found that the
demand for cantaloupes in the large
cities was considerably more than
the supply. As the shipping facili-
ties from my farm were good and
the soil suitable l determined TO be-
gin with five acres. The returns
from those five acres were more
than from fifty planted in tobacco.
In spite Of this fact did not
like 10 trust the new crop entirely,
so the next year l only doubled my
acreage in melons. II proved q
streak Of luck for mo that had been
SO cautious and also that they were
planted in two fields some distance
apart. About one-half of those me-
Ions were attacked by blight and I
only got two pickings from tina.
field.
THE third year I stuck to ten
acres and was SO successful that
whon tho nex. planting time came
around l planted fifty acres of me-
Ions against ssventy-iye OF tobacco.
The returns for that year were SO
much in the favor OF cantaloupes
that | cut tobeeco out entirely, and
since then havs planted each wear
from seventy i've to q hundred acres
in melons.
MY marketsare Baltimore, Phila-
delpLia and New York. While the
shipping charges TO New York are
higher In proportion to the distance
she price is always q little better for
the finest grade melons. A New
Yorker will willingly pay 80 cents
for the best grade melon. IfIwere
going to ship inferior melons it
would never be to New York.
To raise the best grade melons
the planter must begin by having
not only the best seed OF suitable
varieties but the most suitable soil
properly prepared. 1 had always
been familiar with the growing of
cantaloupes because my father had
had o patch for family use. but when
I went into it as O business | found
there many points for me to learn.
The land that have found best
suited 70 melon growing is good
sandy ioarn underlaid with red clay
subsoil. After breaking the field
up l have broad double burrows
opened about eight feet apart. In
these is scattered q mixture OF we'll
rosted stable manure. cottonseed
meal, acid phosphate and muriate
OF potash. The plough is then run
through this fertilizer, after which
IL is covered by running q furrow
on each side.
Next comes the planting of the
seed, and for the benefit OF growers
who complain about the quality of
their melons l wish 10 state that for
my frst seed paid from $3 to a a
pound. when the regular price for
good seed was so cents.
When the plants are well under
way always scatter little nitrate
Of soda about them. from forty TO
1iity pounds to the acre, atintervals
offRom two 10 three weeks. Thorough
and frequent culture should be Civ
On the vines 10 keep them free from
grass and weeds aud growing as
rapidly as possible.
81 have heard melon growers say
they never drew long breath un-
ill picking time came, they were so
much afraid OF blight, windstorms
or some Of the many foes of can
taloupes. So far as / am concerned
I never begin to hold my breath un-
til picking begins. II is SO hard 10
get expert melon graders and al
most impossible properly to harvest
a crop without them.
There are three grades of melons,
md the hrst or standard grade
brinas the best price. This melon