Under Cover.
Out California way there is a certain melon-grower that may be a Yankee or may not be, but he found a Yankee way of doing things. He has six acres of melons, and of this great expanse of possible lusciousness he covered 876 hills with canopies.
These canopies were made of white muslin, and each was about as large as a man's handkerchief. The canopies were stretched over bent wires, which were crossed like the center arches in croquet. Each canopy was sewed to the ends of the wires, and the wires were then stuck into the ground so as to stretch the muslin taut and keep the wind from blowing it away. The protectors cost about eight cents apiece.
Under the canopies the young plants grew, snugly shielded from the wind and the frost, while the sun's rays were imprisoned much as in a hotbed. At the time when the article was written from which I gained my information, the protected plants were far ahead of their unprotected brothers and sisters, and the experiment seemed likely to result in melons about three weeks in advance of all competitors. That, in this impatient age, is worth a small fortune to their enterprising owner.
And now, quite apart from thoughts of money gain, is there not much advantage in the use of canopies in all our planning and working?
Some of us, I think, thrust the seeds of our designs into cold ground and expose the tender shoots to all the blasts of heaven. We have no mercy upon these babes of our heart and brain. We tell our plan to the first man we meet, or we present it at the first meeting that we attend after forming the plan. It gets "nipped in the bud," as we say. More truly, usually, it never gets into the bud at all, but gets nipped in the seed.
Let us quietly adopt the canopy notion. When we get an idea, let us cherish it in secret for a while. Let us "mull over it." Let us communicate it, if to any, then to sympathetic souls. Let us stretch above it a cover of meditation and prayer. Let us fashion for it a little sunshine room where it may enjoy to the full the rays of a fructifying sun. Let us not expose it to the criticism of the world till it is well formed, till its roots are established in our mind, till it is ready for the buffetings that are sure to try its strength to the utmost at the same time that they develop new strength.
If this is the way to raise good melons and to raise them swiftly, I am sure that it is also the way to raise good plans that will grow and blossom and bear fruit.