Part 8 (2/2)
Cultivation should be thorough. Fungous diseases can be controlled by means of the Bordeaux mixture, except that it is difficult to reach the under side of the leaves. To prevent sunburn on melons, some growers sow buckwheat when the vines are in blossom, and thus secure a partial shade by the time the fruit is large enough to be injured by the sun. Generally, no protection is necessary.
At $10 or $15 per hundred, the average wholesale price at Philadelphia, watermelon culture is profitable. Early prices are higher.
WATER MELONS.--For s.h.i.+pping--Johnson's Dixie, Blue Gem, Duke Jones, Sweet Heart. For home market--Black-Eyed Susan, Florida Favorite, Kentucky Wonder, McIver's Wonderful Sugar. For descriptions, see ”Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual.”
=Citron.=--This small round melon is cultivated in all respects as the watermelon, but being smaller the hills may be closer. It is used in making preserves. The name citron is frequently applied to certain of the cantaloupes.
=Cantaloupes or Muskmelons.=--It is a matter of choice whether the green-fleshed or red-fleshed sorts are grown; or whether the variety be large or small. The sorts covered with strongly webbed or netted markings are in high favor for s.h.i.+pping to distant points, as they carry well. Flavor is in part at least a matter of temperature and suns.h.i.+ne. Cantaloupes may be nicely ripened by removing them from the vines and storing in dry, warm rooms.
The usual planting distance is from 4-1/2 to 6 feet, in hills containing rotted manure. Compost, made of hen manure, is sometimes used in the hill, well mixed with the soil. Good cantaloupes are always in active demand.
MUSK MELONS.--Early sorts for s.h.i.+pping--McCleary's Improved Jenny Lind, Netted Beauty, The Captain, Champion Market, Improved Netted Gem, Anne Arundel. Late sorts--The Princess, Johnson & Stokes' Superb, etc. See ”Garden and Farm Manual” for descriptions.
[Ill.u.s.tration: McCleary's Improved Early Jenny Lind Muskmelon.]
=Enemies.=--In addition to the fungous diseases of the watermelon and cantaloupe, which are best treated with Bordeaux mixture, all melons are sometimes badly troubled with an aphis called the melon louse. The remedy is whale-oil soap--a pound in six gallons of water; or kerosene emulsion. The latter is made by dissolving half a pound of soft soap in one gallon of water; then adding two gallons of kerosene, churning violently; then diluting with ten or twelve gallons of water. This emulsion is put upon the melon vines in the form of a spray, and is one of the best insecticides known. It is to be used on all sucking insects, like lice and squash bugs. Biting insects are easily killed with Paris green--one pound in 100 pounds of flour or plaster, or in 150 gallons of water.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Improved Early Netted Gem Muskmelon (Rose Gem Strain).]
Where the land is suited to melon culture, in any part of the country, the farm gardener will find no more satisfactory or remunerative crop.
MUSHROOMS.
Under certain favored circ.u.mstances the mushroom may be grown as a farm gardener's crop. The requisites are horse manure and a dark cellar, cave or vault. If the manure be available and a suitable apartment at hand, the growing of mushrooms may be taken up for winter work.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A Bed of Mushrooms from English Milltrack Sp.a.w.n.]
There are many ways of growing mushrooms, and they can be produced in any situation where a steady temperature of 60 can be maintained. A simple method is to prepare a bed consisting of horse manure and loam, three parts by measure of the former and one of the latter, the manure having been somewhat fermented and sweetened by allowing it to heat and turning it several times. A compact bed a foot deep is made. This bed will first heat and then cool. As it cools, when at 80 or 85 an inch below the surface, bits of brick sp.a.w.n the size of a hen's egg are inserted about 9 inches apart.
The bed must not be immediately covered, or the temperature will rise sufficiently to kill the sp.a.w.n. In ten days, more or less, as shown by a thermometer, this danger will be past, and the bed should receive a coating of good loam an inch deep. No water is to be applied until after the bed is in full bearing.
It is a.s.sumed that the temperature of the room or cellar has been uniformly 60, day and night; that the bed has not been made where it could become water-soaked; that it is sufficiently moist, yet not wet; and that no draft of air has pa.s.sed over the surface in a way either to reduce the temperature of the bed itself or to dry the soil upon the surface. If these conditions cannot be maintained, either by a specially favorable place or by means of covering the bed with litter, it is better to let mushrooms alone.
The crop should appear in six or eight weeks, and should last two months, the total product being from one-half to one pound per square foot. The cash price is from 50 to 75 cents per pound in the large cities; and the crop is sufficiently profitable to warrant the losses which beginners so commonly experience. These losses are the result of carelessness or ignorance in the matter of details.
The usual sources of failure are poorly prepared beds, the medium being either too wet or too dry; frequent changes of temperature; improper use of water; and, lastly, poor or stale sp.a.w.n.
Mushrooms are packed in small baskets lined with paper, and carefully covered to prevent evaporation. A five-pound package is a favorite s.h.i.+pping size.
ONIONS.
The onion is a national crop; as widely though not quite as extensively grown as the potato. It is available as a money crop for the farm gardener.
=Choice of Soil.=--Heavy, stiff clay land is to be avoided. Sand and gravel dry out too quickly. Stony land renders good culture difficult.
The best soil for onions is a deep, rich, mellow loam. Soils which afford natural advantages for irrigation should not be overlooked, as the rainfall is often lacking when greatly needed.
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