The sun., 1908-06-21
ONE VONAN'S MELON FARM
A MARYLAND WAY TO PAY OFF
INHERITED DEBTS.

Along with Tobacco ItN HAD Rroduccd q
r Mortgage When she Took Charee-7A
Source OF Front Now-How to Raise
Good Csntaloupes and TO Soil Them.
Some Of the best cantaloupes sold In
New York during tho last four seasons
were raised by Maryland woman who
manages her sown farm and negotiates
the sale Of the melons, This season she
has one hundred acres planted In Melted
Gems and she has as many private orders
as she expects to be able to all
my planting cantaloupee 10 the result
Of not being able to pay expenses growing
tobacco" declared the Maryland woman.
"The farm came to me by Inheritance
together with debt Of more than $500 and
q heavy. mortgage.
my father had been a tobacco planter
and expected me to follow in his footsteps.
but when came to look the situation square
in the face decided to try some other crop
on the side. II that paid-well. as don't
use tobacco in any form was not at all
averse to devoting myself to raising come
other crop. o.%
@On investigating found that the de-
mand for cantaloupes in the large cities
was considerably more than the supply.
As the shipping facilities from my farm
were good and.the soil suitable deter
mined to begin with ive acres. The re-
turns from those five acres were more
than from fifty planted in tobacco.
an spite Of this fact did not like to trust
the new crop entirely, 80 the next year
only doubled my acreage In melons. IL
proved streak Of luck for me that had
been so cautious and also that they were
planted In two fields some distance apart.
About one-half Of those melons were at
tackled by blight and only got two pick
ings from that field.
"The third year / stuck to ten acres and
was 30 successful that when the next plant
ing time came around planted fifty acres
Of melons against seventy-five Of tobacco.
The returns for that year were 30 much
In the favor of cantaloupes that I cut to-
baoco out entirely. and since then have
planted each year from seventy-five to
hundred acres in melons.
my markets ere Baltimore, Philadelphia
and New York. While the shipping charges
to New York are higher in proportion to
the distance the price is always little
better for the finest grade melons.
New Yorker will willingly pay 50 cents for
the best grade melon. II I were going
to ship inferior melons 1t would never be to
New York.
ITO 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. l had
always been familiar with the growing Of
cantaloupes because my father had had
patch for family use, but when went into
it as a business found there we're many
points for me to learn.
"The land that have found best suited
to melon growing is good sandy loam
underlaid with red clay subsoil. After
breaking the field up have broad double
burrows opened about eight feet apart.
In these is scattered mixture Of well
rotted stable manure, cottonseed meal, acid
phosphate and muriate OF potash. The
plough is then run through this fertilizer.
after which it is covered by running a
furrow on each side
Next comes the planting OF the seed,
and for the benefit Of growers who COM
plain about the quality Of their melons ]
wish to state that for my first seed paid
from So to 81 a pound, when the regular
price for good seed was so cents,
when the plants are we'll under way
always scatter a little nitrate Of soda about
them, from forty to fifty pounds to the
acre, at intervals Of from two to three
weeks. Thorough and frequent culture
should be given the vines to keep them free
from grass and weeds and growing as
rapidly as possible.
Il have heard melon growers say they
never drew long breath until picking time
came they were 30 much afraid Of blight.
windstornns or some Of the many foes Of
cantaloupes. So far as / am concerned
never begin to hold my breath until picking
graders and almost impossible properly
to harvest crop without them.
-There are three grades OF melons. and
the first or standard grade brings the best
four inches across, and If it is Melted Gem
it must be thickly netted all over. except
perhaps just about the stem.
i have never sold any but the Best grade
in New York and have never received less
than 81 crate TO- them A few years age
the Jersey and Pennsylvania melons got
as high as S. for some fifty crates. In
Philadelphia and Baltimore the price
ranges from 81 so to So for the best. As a
and have found that the smaller or third
grade melons sell hest in Philadelphia.
is there any way for purchaser to tell
a good melon without cutting and tasting 1t?
That is exactly what an expert melon
grader is expected to do, to judge the favor
Of the melon as we'll as the size.
"The best external indication in a Melted
Gem and melons Of similar type is a golden
greenish color, the melon being deeply
ribbed and thickly overlaid with rather
coarse gray netting, the edges OF which rise
perpendicularly from the surface. The
melon should be heavy. There should be no
RAGGED or broken stem to indicate that the
melon was torn from the vine before IL was
ripe enough to part freely.
'"If one follows these pointers they are
pretty sure to get the perfection Of melon
produced by the quality OF the seed planted.
II the seed has come from a tasteless melon
the result will be disappointing, even with
thorough culture and the best care in pick
ing and shipping.
5To produce good melons for the homo
garden should advise warm, sandy land
heavily enriched. II such land is not to be
had the gardener may readily grow them
on much colder and heavier soil by digging
broad deep hills and filing them with well !
rotted stable manure mixed with as loamy
earth as s to be had. These hills should
have an elevation OF few inches above the
surrounding surface soil when the seeds
are planted.
"The most serious menace to successful
melon growing is the foliage blight. Even