. The modern guide for fruit and truck shippers and poultry raisers in the southern states; . proper methods are em-ployed. The culture is easy; most any land will suit the melon; the melonsrequire no crates or boxes; therefore they can be both cheaply grown andshipped. SOIL. Watermelons, like most vine products, thrive best in a slightly sandy,loose soil. New land, as a rule, is well adapted to melons. The landmust be well drained, therefore a field having a slope is preferable. PROXIMITY TO RAILROADS. To make watermelon culture profitable the patch should be close toloading stations. The mel
. The modern guide for fruit and truck shippers and poultry raisers in the southern states; . proper methods are em-ployed. The culture is easy; most any land will suit the melon; the melonsrequire no crates or boxes; therefore they can be both cheaply grown andshipped. SOIL. Watermelons, like most vine products, thrive best in a slightly sandy,loose soil. New land, as a rule, is well adapted to melons. The landmust be well drained, therefore a field having a slope is preferable. PROXIMITY TO RAILROADS. To make watermelon culture profitable the patch should be close toloading stations. The melons being heavy, long Hauls are unprofitable, infact, many of the largest watermelon growers in the South are providedwith a spur track right in the field, where the cars may be loaded atleisure and with care. SEED. There are many excellent varieties of watermelons, as the GeorgiaRattlesnake, Mountain Sweet, Kolb Gem and others, yet of late years theSouthern growers have found the Alabama Sweet to be the best all-roundmelon for shipping. It is of an attractive, oblong shape, dark green in. WATERMELONS color and of a sweet and fine flavor, but the most important part is it hasa hard, tough rind, and therefore possesses fine shipping qualities, whichis essential in profitable melon shipments. Crushed and broken melons 80 Watermelons. in the car cut a consideralile figure in the account sales of any car. Manygrowers for this reason grow the Alabama Sweet to the exclusion of anyother. FEKTILIZEKS. While most soils in the South would grow a fair crop of watermelonswithout any fertilizers, it is equally certain that fertilizers employed inthe hills are of great assistance for earliness and a superior quality ofmelon. There is hardly anything better than a shovelful of well rottedbarnyard manure applied under each hill. Care must be exercised thatthe manure is well mixed in the soil, otherwise there is grave danger ofheat, which may burn the roots of the young plants. Where stable man
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