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Show PINCHING THE RUNNERS OF MELONS, 1 SQUASHES, &c. A practical gardener makes the following im-portant'statcmcnt: im-portant'statcmcnt: uAs a test of frequent practice prac-tice among fruit growers of melons and squashes, I pinched the ends of the long main shoots of the melons, squashes and cucumbers, and left some to run at their own will. One'squash plant sent out a single stem reaching more than forty feett but did not bear any fruit. Another plant fwas pinched until it formed a compact mass of intermingling inter-mingling side shoots eight feet square, and it bcre sixteen squashes. Also a musk-melon plant thus pinched in, covered the space alloted to it, and it set twenty-three specimens of fruit. The pinching pinch-ing causes mnny lateral branches, which latter produce the female or fertile blossoms, while the main vines produce only the male blossoms. The difference in favor of the yield of an acre of melons mel-ons treated by this pinching process may easily amount to 100 barrels." Ex. Not long since we had -a melon plant that bore 51 melons, 45 of which matured beferc frost came. Some of the runners were pinched and some were I not. We know that the pinching process, prop erly managed, will add about 50 per cent, yield to the farmer's crop. . . 4 m i |