Liquor Flavors Growing Melons (Feb, 1940)

I’m not much of a gardener, but wouldn’t alcohol be bad for a plant?

Liquor Flavors Growing Melons

FLAVORING growing melons with port wine and cognac is the novel horticultural experiment being tried on the Yonkers, N.Y., estate of Samuel Unter-meyer, New York lawyer. Bottles of the beverages used are held in a tipped position by wire frames stuck into the ground near the melon vines. A wick leading from each bottle is introduced into the fruit through a slit made in the plant stem. Thomas Quin-lan, a gardener on the estate, is shown examining the liquor-fed melons, which are said to be given a superior flavor.