The Little River news., 1917-02-28
Melon Growing in South
 west Arkansas Profitable

l for the Southern melon grower. Good
 crops west of the Mississippi and pro- longed hot weather in the North
 brought many thousands of dollars in
 to the pockets of the growers through | Texas and Southwest Arkansas. In
 consequence planters throughout this
 section of the country are going into
 the deal pretty heavily this coming
 season and it is going to be the care l ful grower that receives the best re- | turns for his product.
 Earliness is essential for the grower | in the South. As soon as the weather l becomes hot in the Northern states the people are ready for California
 and Texas cantaloupes and water
 melons. Melons at this time of the year bring fancy prices and the grow
 CT who makes the greatest profits. AS an Illustration Of this we might
 take certain shipping point in South west Arkansas. Growers at this point
 netted as high as $2.7O crate on
 early express shipments of canta- l loupes. Later shipments by express | netted as low as 25c and late ship ] ments of even carlots brought returns
 of as low, as 90 cents.
 Carlots should always be regarded as the unit and it is seldom that the growing of either cantaloupes or wat
 ermelons for shipment can be success ful unless sufficient acreage is put | out to insure daily carlot shipments I should say that 80 acres be mini
 mum for cantaloupes and 100 acres would be better. With watermelons | 25 acres would be regarded as mini
 mum, not for carlot, but for profta ble handling. Fifty acres would be even | better.
 Sandy sells are naturally best adapt ed for melon growing both because | they warm up earlier in the season and because they are not apt to be
 overly we'll supplied with nitrogen. 1 New land CT land where there is much available nitrogen present tend to
 make for a vigorous vine growth and late maturity of the melons. Sand knobs seem to be especially adapted to melon growing and a
 southeasterly slope is to be preferred. Land of this sort will naturally be
 we'll drained and will warm up early in the season.
 The preparation of the soil is also
 of utmost importance. Early blowing
 or even fall blowing is to be advised
 wherever possible in order that a
 deep, firm, mellow seed bed mey be secured. Thorough preparation of the
 land is a crop half made
 Manure is a scarce article through
 out most of the melon growing sec
 tons end yet this is the one thing | which these lands need most of all. Manure may be placed in the open furrow where the hills are to be locat
 ed or an even better plan than this is
 to dig out hole under each hill and ..
 big scoops of manure should be used
 to the hill and this worked through the soil.
 Two things to remember are that
 he manure should be well rotted and
 that it should be placed deep. Fresh
 manure will cause the hills to dry out quickly in case of a drouth as will
 also manure that is not placed deeply.
 The roots of the melon will naturally
 grow in the direction of the fertilizer and by having this deep they will go down after it. Thus when a drouth comes along the roots are deep below
 the surface of the soil where they can , secure enough moisture to mature the crop.
 A landlul of cottonseed meal in tue hill, alons with the manlto will also help in getting the melons earlier. Later applications of meal or of con- mercial fertilizers will also help to
 make the melons come in. These fer tilizers should be low in nitrogen, though, as too much nitrogen will give rank vine growth.
 Attention 9f grading at time of
 shipment is fhe one big item that spells more successes and failures than any otfer item of the growers
 work. WellAYaded stock will always
 bring good retu Sns, whereas it is rare thing for traded melons to be proftabld
 Our o> Son on