Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-05
FARM EDUCATION
BY DIR. ANDREW M. SOULE

/ ventilatoTs. If the car has a leaky
roof or is poorly protected at the
, door so that the melons may be
damaged or stolen, it is advisable to
get a suitable car from the rail.
road
Treating: The transportation
companies require that every car of
watermelons be treated to prevent
stem-end rot. In the past, some
leaders have complied with these
| regulations merely to get by. This
is a good regulation; it should be
followed in spirit as well as in let
ter. AS the melons are packed in
the car, have a boy or other person
with a sharp knife in one hand and
pot or bucket of blue stone paste
in the other. AS fast as the melons
are loaded, have him make a fresh
cut on, each stem, and Immediately
apply the blue stone paste.
Loading: At, the end of the car,
place a row of melons Crosswise.
Then decide the number of melons
that will be needed for each row.
The rows of the first and third
tiers should each have one less melon
than the rows of the second and
fourth tiers; that is, tiers should run
Hip, Hip or 10-11, 10-11 counts.
This enables the loader to place the
watermelons so that two or more
melons of a lower tier support a
melon in the next tier. This enables
the loader to make a tight pack
which will not shift in transit and
which will arrive at destination look
ing almost as we'll as at loading
point An inexperienced loader will
often find that a certain melon does
not lie firmly, and further, that he
is unable to make it do so. In such
a case, lay the melon aside and get
another. The melon laid aside can
be placed later in such a position
as to fit tightly. Load from both
ends toward the middle, carrying all
four tiers forward and carrying the
lower tier forward more rapidly than
the upper tiers. When the center
of the car is reached, some Of the
tiers will come out even. Others
will not. Load so as to finish in the
center of the car, and the tiers which
do not come out evenly are held in
place by putting melons crosswise in
the immediate center of the car.
Growing Lettuce as a Summer Crop
J. G. w, Cedar Mountain
Camp, Porter Springs, Ga. / de-
sire to cultivate lettuce as a
summer crop at an elevation OF
1900 feet. What suggestions can
YOU offer relative to this mat
ter?
DR.. r. H. Mediation, professor of
horticulture, Georgia State College
of Agriculture, advises that 1T will
take about three or four months for
lettuce to grow. You may have
home trouble in getting it headed in
the middle of the summer, even at
your elevation. L think you will find
it advisable to transplant your
plants; that is, start them in a seed
bed and transplant them rather than
to sow them in rows and thin them
out. If your bottom land that you
mention is of the usual type, that is
washed down from the coves, you
should need little fertilizer. If it is
at all light, however, applications of
manure worked in the ground right
away would be most advisable.
You could hardly irrigate success
fully by flooding. If you wish to
prepare for irrigation, it should be
done by trench method, that is, by
running a little stream of water be-
tween the rows. If your land IS
only three feet above water level,
you may suffer more from too much
water during the summer time than
too little, as in this section it often
rains a great deal during the summer
season. If water stands in the field
that you intend to plant to lettuce,
I would hardly advise that it be used
as a truck field unless it We're under
in