3 347
581

ue SQUASHES:

Faow ro Grow | Hem.

A PRACTICAL
TREATISE ON SQUASH CULTURE.

GIVING FULL DETAILS ON EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEPING
AND MARKETING THE CROP.

NEW, REVISED, AND ENLARGED EDITION.

BY
JAMES J. HYGREGORY,

INTRODUCER OF THE HUBBARD, MARBLEHEAD, AND BUTMAN SQUASHES.

MARBLEHEAD, MASS.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK: Re
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.

1883.

Gardening for Youngand Old.

THE
CULTIVATION OF GARDEN VEGETABLES IN THE
FARM GARDEN. ia

By JOSEPH HARRIS, M.S.,

Author of “Walks and Talks on the Farm,” “Harris on the Pig,” ‘‘Talks on
Manures,”’ ete.

Quay NY Wy
- ‘ ~

ms

CONTENTS.

Introduction.—An Old and a New Garden.— Gardening for Boys.--How to
Begin.—Preparing the Soil.—Killing the Weeds.—About High Farming.—Com-
petition in Crops.—The Manure*Question.—_The Implements N eeded.—Start-
ing Plants in the House or in the Hot-bed.— The Window-box.—Making the
Hot bed.—Cold Frames.—Insects.—The Use of Poisons. The Care of Poisons.
—The Cultivation of Vegetables in the Farm Garden.—The Cultivation of
Flowers. i

ILLLUSTRATED.
12mo. Cloth. Price, post-paid, $1.25.

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 Broadway, New York,

SOU sso ES:

HOW TO GROW THEM.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON SQUASH CULTURE, GIVING FULL DETAILS ON
EVERY POINT, INCLUDING KEEPING AND MARKETING THE CROP.

NEW, REVISED, AND ENLARGED EDITION.

BY iw.

JAMES J. H. GREGORY,

INTRODUCER OF THE HUBBARD, MARBLEHEAD, AND BUTMAN SQUASHES,
‘ MARBLEHEAD, MASS.

ILLUSTRATED. -:

NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.

Wess,

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW AND
REVISED EDITION.

Since the first edition of this Treatise was written, the
cultivation of the running variety of the squash has
spread from New England, to which they were then
mostly confined, throughout the Middle and Western
States. One result of this is that the markets of the
EKastern States are now largely supplied with squashes
grown by farmers in the West.

Meanwhile, many new varieties have been introduced,
and adopted into general cultivation, that deserved to be
illustrated and described ; while many new facts and
suggestions on the subject claimed a record ; and it has
this seemed best to revise the former treatise, and send out
new edition of my Squash Book. The Squash family (Cu-
curbitacee) have their habitat in the tropics and warmer
portions of the temperate zones; hence they require our
hottest seasons to develop them in perfection. With the
exception of the Vegetable Marrow, the squash family is
almost unknown to our English cousins, as likewise is true
of ourcorn and beans, for though the average temperature
of the year is higher with them than with us, yet the ex-
treme hot weather, which these vegetables require, is
there wanting.

The introduction of the squash is a matter of the past
half century ; until within that time, with the exception of
the Crookneck, the pumpkins, yellow and black, or “ nig
ger,” were the only varieties cultivated. Though the ap-
petite for squash appears to be in a considerable degree a
matter of education, yet it is becoming more and more
popular in the vicinity of the large cities of the North,
where among vegetables, it now ranks next to the potato,

3

& SQUASHES, HOW 10 GROW THEM, ETC
WHAT IS A SQUASH?

In many parts of the South and West, where the fall
and winter squashes are not much cultivated, the term
“ Pumpkin” is used for all the running varieties of the
squash or pumpkin family, with the exception of tho
“Cashaw’” class, which includes varieties that are closely
allied to the Crookneck. To clearly define what is meant by
the word squash in contradistinction from the word pump-
kin, as used among market-men, is no very easy matter, as all
the varieties, with the exception of the Crooknecks, easily
intercross with each other, and in the recently introduced
Yokohama, I have reason to believe we have tound the
connecting link between the Crooknecks and other squashes,
thus destroying the reputation which the Crooknecks had
hitherto enjoyed of being the squashes of the squash fam-
ily. Grouping all the running varieties together, we ex
press the marketman’s idea of a squash, as distinguished |
from a pumpkin, when we say that all varieties having
soft or fleshy stems, either with or without a shell, and all
varieties having a hard, woody stem, and without a shell,
are squashes; while all having a hard stem and a shell
the flesh of which is not bitter, are pumpkins; and all of
this latter class, the flesh of which contains a bitter prin-
ciple, are gourds. In a more general classification, all va-
rieties having a hard shell, are gourds, and those without
a shell, aresquashes. I had an amusing instance under this
system of classification in a lot of seed, ordered from France
as “ gourds;” on examining them, I found that several of
the kinds were varieties of our table squashes. Making a
separate classification of the summer varieties, I define
such to be squashes, in contradistinction from gourds, as
are eatable at any period of their growth. It will be seen
that. the distinctions I make are more commercial than
strictly scientific. What I aim at, is, to so define squashes,
pumpkins, and gourds, that experienced market-men, seed-

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 5

men, and new beginners, may meet on common ground,
and clearly understand each other when using these terms.

In passing, I remark, that gourds are far more prolific
than either squashes or pumpkins; in some instances more
than two score having been grown on a single vine.

SELECTING THE SOIL.

All of the family thrive best, other things equal, in a
warm soil, through which the roots can easily find their
way. The Hubbard, Butman, and Marblehead squashes
appear to attain their highest development in regard to
both yield and quality in a soil that is strong as well as
warm. I would not advise planting in a clay soil under
any circumstances, nor on a strong clay loam, unless it
be possible by thorough draining and high manuring (for
this purpose, long manure is better than fermented), to
make such soil light and porous. A drained meadow
will often yield enormous squashes, if well manured,
but they are apt to be very porous, of poor quality, and
poor keepers.

Some years since I planted a piece of rich, black
meadow to Hubbards, after manuring liberally in the hills.
The result was a tremendous growth of vine, some of
the leaves measuring twenty inches in diameter, while the
ends of the runners, in their great vigor, lifted themselves
by thousands two and three feet above the surface, and
with their blunt, arched extremities, looked like a myriad
of huge-winged serpents running a race. The squashes
were of a lighter green than usual, very large, but, when
gathered, proved light in the handling, very porous in
structure (cutting like punk), were very poor keepers,
and coarse and watery in quality. Though such meadows
are thoroughly underdrained, the squashes grown on them
are light in proportion to their size, (which always insures
poor quality and poor keeping,) unless the meadows have
had abundance of sand and loam worked into them, thus

6 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

adding the proper proportion of silica to the vegetable —

humus. Some years ago, when the Marrow squash was a
novelty, bringing about $4.00 a hundred pounds, one of

my townsmen raised some acres on a piece of drained —

meadow. Only a portion of the meadow had received a
good dressing of sand; here the squashes were of about
the ordinary size, while on the remainder they grew “as
big as barrels.” He traded a part of the crop with a
peddler for alot of swine. When the peddler called for the
squashes, agreeable to instructions, the father being absent
from town, his son showed him the smaller sized lot, say-
ing that he had received directions to deliver them, as
they were the best of the crop. But the peddler declared
that, as he had supplied good pigs, he was entitled to good
squashes, and would be put off with no trash. He there-
fore loaded his wagons with the “ big as a barrel” lot, and
left for home. Before many days a friend called, and,
with a laugh, asked if he had heard of the result of the
squash investment. “There was’nt enough substance in
them to hold together until he got home; they were car-
ried to market in a few days, and two tons out of five
were rotten.” If the soil be wet and cold, the growth of
the vine is much retarded, and not only is the crop much
lessened in size and weight, but at times this singular re-
sult is seen—the squash loses its normal form. I have
seen a crop of Hubbards grown under such circumstances,
all of which were nearly flat at each end, instead of hav-
ing the elongations that belong to the normal form.
When two soils of equal natural strength, but one of
them being more gravelly in its structure, are heavily and.

equally manured, I have noticed, in several instances, that.

the more gravelly piece will give more squashes and less
vine than the others.

Unlike some varieties of melons and cucumbers, squashes
will do finely on freshly broken sod, which has the ad-
vantage (a great one in many localities) of being less in-

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC, 7

fested with bugs, than old tillage soil. The practice ot
digging holes a foot or two in diameter in patches of turf
in waste places, around hedges, or in corners of fields,
which, after fillmg with manure, are planted to squashes, is
but a waste of time; the result is, a growth of vine of a
few feet in length, the setting of squashes, and then both
squash and vine become checked in their growth, as the
roots of the vine make vain efforts to penetrate a dense
mass of hungry grass roots in search of food, the leaves
gradually turn yellow, and before ycu know it, have
entirely disappeared. By pulling on a dead vine, you
may drag out a half grown squash hidden in the grass.
If the sod abounds in the pest known as witch, twitch,
or quack grass, there is danger that it will overrun the
vines. If the grass has not been thoroughly torn up
by the cultivator before the vines begin to run, better
plow up at once, as the crop will be nearly a failure.
Hoeing up and hand pulling will practically amount to
nothing under such circumstances. If the sod is not
badly run to twitch, there is but little danger, provided
the cultivator is faithfully used from the time the vines
appear above ground until the runners begin to push.
Witch grass can be killed by covering the tops (uncut)
with two inches of soil, as I have learned by experiment.

THE MANURE.

The squash vine is a rank feeder. Night soil, barn ma-
nure, wood ashes, guano, muscle mud, hen manure, super-
phosphate of lime, pig manure, sheep manure, fish guano,
fish waste—either of these alone, or in compost, is greedily
devoured by this miscellaneous feeder. The great error
in the cultivating of the squash is tostarve it. By many
cultivators, when every other crop has hed its share, and
the manure heap has been used up, a piece of sod is broken
for the squash patch, about the only food depended on

8 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

for the crop being what it can gather from the decay of
the fresh turned sod. Under such treatment, the crop is
small, the squashes small, and the general result unsatis-
factory. Another error of the opposite extreme is one
often committed by market gardeners, who have learned
that no paying crop can be grown without liberal feeding
—who give all the food necessary, but do not allow suf
ficient room for the extra growth of vines under such cul-
ture. Of this latter error I propose to treat under the
head of “ Planting the Seed.”

Night soil, when used, should be mixed with muck and
other manures in the form of a compost; though it may be
applied fresh, directly to the hill, if sufficient care is taken
to mix it thoroughly with the soil. Some years ago, I
broke up a plece of land in the spring of the year for
squashes, and the location being difficult of access, I used
night soil from a vault on the premises, pouring about two
bushels into each hill. After we had finished manuring, I

sent my hired man, stout Jim Lane, around with his hoe ©

to mix it thoroughly with the soil in the hills. When
Jim came back, saying the thing had been thoroughly
done, I send him around a second time, to give it another
mixing up, and, on his return, sent him around the third
time, though the old fellow assured me that it couldn’t be
improved on, and I had no doubt he had done his work
well each time, but, with two bushels of fresh night soil
in each, I knew that all the danger lay in one direction.
The result was, the vines came up a rich, dark-green, and
took right hold of their food.

With the exception of barn manure, it is necessary that
each of the manures mentioned above should be well

mixed in the soil when used in the hill) When wood,

ashes are used, they should not be mixed with other manure,
until just as itis applied, as this would injure the value of
the manure, by setting free the ammonia. When I have
used ashes in connection with Peruvian guano, I have

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 9

been in the habit of putting layer with layer in a wheel:
barrow, hurrying it to the hills, and then covering it im-
mediately with soil. Even with all possible hurrying of
matters, the strong, pungent smell of the escaping am-
monia could be readily detected.

Wood ashes, mixed with fresh night soil in the hill
is considerably worse than nothing. Some years ago,
aiming to grow some extra large specimens, I selected a
favorable location, opened several large hills, and poured
into each about a couple of bushels of night soil. Into
this I stirred a liberal quantity of wood ashes, acting on
the theory that its alkaline properties would serve as a
corrective of the rank crudeness of the night soil. I pull-
ed the earth over the hills, and planted my seed. The
seed vegetated, but the young plants soon came to a stand
still, lL applied a little fresh soil to the roots, thinking the
manure below might be too strong for the young rootlets
to absorb. Still, there was no growth; soon the leaves
turned yellow, and the plants died. I opened one hill to
find the cause, and there I found cause enough in the
presence of a mass having about the size and appearance
of an ordinary grindstone; the ashes and night soil in
combination had made a hard cement, and the entire con-
tents of each hill could be rolled out in one cake.

HOW MUCH MANURE?

Those who, under the stimulus of a city market, follow
market gardening, soon learn one truth that may be set
down as an axiom for successful gardening, viz.: that
other things equal, it is the last cord of manure that gives
the most profit. There is but little danger of giving too
much manure to your squash ground, provided the hills
are made at a proper distance apart, and the vines are not
too numerous.

No prudent man will plant squashes with less than four
ae Os 3

10 SQUASHES, HOW 10 GROW THEM, ETC.

cords of barn manure, or its equivalent, to the acre; this
is the minimum—when squashes are raised as a profitable
crop, from six to twenty cords of good manure per acre
are used. é |
Twenty cords to the acre will, I doubt not, sound like
a large story to many readers, and it zs a large quantity,
even for the high culture required for successful market
gardening, but I have seen that quantity applied, and
once, in my own practice, applied thirty-five cords to a
little over two acres of squash land, where the soil had
been over-cropped, (or rather under-fed,) for many years
before I came into possession of it. Let us look a moment
into that axiom—the greatest profit comes out of the
last cord of manure. With four cords of manure to
the acre, on good soil, the average yield would be about
four tons of Hubbard squashes; with six cords of manure, |
the average yield would be about six tons; with eight
cords, the yield would be from seven to eight tons. These
are real results, that I have had in my own experience.
Here it will be seen that we gain about a ton of
squashes with each extra cord of manure; in other words,
by investing eight or ten dollars, we treble or quadruple
our money in six month’s time—quite a profitable bank
of deposit is the manure heap! Not only is the crop
heavier, but the squashes are larger, and, therefore, faz
more marketable, and, usually, at a higher figure, some-
times bringing $5 or $10 a ton advance in the market.
Nor is this all; the virtues of the manure are not ex-
hausted in the first season; the ground is left in higher
condition for the crops of the next season. Again, let it
be noted that the cost of cultivation of a poor crop is just
as great as the cultivation of a large one, while the promise
of a large crop is a great cheer amid the labor of caring
for it. The strongest argument for the liberal manur-
ing of this and all other crops is, that a certain portion
of the crop but pays for the cost of producing it, and

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 11

that the profits can only come after the cost of production
is paid. |

The cost of producing an acre of squashes, independent
of the cost of the manure, will be:

HEIR RENN tye feet eta a chica Sick nis, 0. dctsloreieieitiel sl Siioee sislacs Saleerwee Melt ace $6.00
Distributing Manure............. Brae apeeeiate ichetatore sere eran el ey raven nose 3.00
Reemeuiyer DITO TO AMES ciclere seeaker eect veieiorinias olson siadies s/aratsie gic ors « 3.00
eee cre et A here eta T ois iaeateh oie Gal ketone: Sale ie ieee ia aha Be bio Sais tok es 4.00
Minnie OVEATAUITS BMI Gio oe 6 60! aia sel ole Cereal Wie ier asojsiaie wid ale Sorel ee cre 2.00
Pp AARE NTE CCU Riese hands e siuid) ooestecacs Dale ear ayes esl OuRs aro wee ere Ga alcllnes 1.00
Three Cultivatings in course Of seasON:..... 2. sce cee eet eens 5.25
Lag) Te OUST OTE I Ae Ae he ar nee tae Ra EN RAMOS See AONE La ea 3.00
Been aes INCL cs DA TANTO” Soe, i 5 Sido, isa alfe aie siatelo Sion hota) eietecoiciate ales we ets ae 1.50
Hand-weeding of large, scattered Weeds, after Runners have
BG ATUC Cp Obes cpapenctare a, Salle his ahole clete Bere. Ot slemie svic oh ot uteri crsave Neieeye ter 1.00
Gathering of Crop into Heaps ready for Carting................. 2.00
ee UPON ATs) mr ecrsfepe chetcsarais Ae lalcyerbrMersrelerelatcle’sicia state oct beseovonatupers 9.00
Wear and Tear, and Incidentals............ ah ofaiavel of acalopeee, uate eters 2.00
LO idly EXCLUSIVE. Of AM AMUITE ciek cicsers arice se hei aore es oon rans $42.75
Add cost of four Cords of Manure, at $8.00, landed in Field..... 32.00
Cost of Guano, or some equivalent, to mix in Hills.............. 5.00

Total cost of Crop when four Cords of Manure are used per Acre.$79.75

Now, as we stated above, the average yield of Hubbard
squashes, under such manuring, would be about four
tons. ‘The average price of Hubbard squashes in the
Boston markets, of late years, of such a size as four
cords of manure to the acre would produce, has been
about $20 per ton. At this rate, the returns (not de-
ducting the cost of marketing) per acre would be $89,
from which, deducting the cost of production, $79.75,
we have 25 cents as the profits on the acre.

If, now, by adding two cords more of manure, or $16,
to the cost of production, we obtain two tons more
squashes, then the income is increased $40 (this supposes
that we get but the same price per ton, but, in fact, I get
from $5 to $10 more per ton for such squashes), and we
have a profit of $24.25. The two cords of manure extra
have more than doubled the profits; in other words, by ad-

12 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

ding about one-siz to the cost of production, we double
the profits. Or, again, to give a commercial look to the
matter, for every dollar invested in manure in May, in
October, or five months, we receive a return of two dol-
lars and a half. The returns have proved in the same
proportion up to eight cords, and at times up to ten cords,
to the acre. These statements are not visionary; they
are drawn directly from practical experience, and can be
corroborated by any farmer who has tried liberal manur-
mg. Catch a farmer of that class going backwards, and
putting less and less manure on his grounds, what a
phenomenon he would be! No; the progress of all enter-
prising farmers is in one direction. By extra manuring the
probabilities of receiving paying returns, are far greater in
agricultural than in commercial life, as figures will readily
show, though the popular belief is directly the contrary.

PREPARING AND APPLYING THE MANURE.

As a general rule in farming, the value of manures that :

are good for any crop, is increased by mixing them to-
gether, making a compost. Ashes and hme are an ex-
ceptien to this rule; each, under certain circumstances,
sets free the ammonia, (the most valuable portion of any
manure,) and, being volatile, it escapes into the atmos-
phere. In preparing a compost for squashes, the bottom
of the heap may be made of muck that has been acted up-
on by the frost, sun, and rain of a year, if practicable; if
this can not be done, let it at least be got out the fall
previous, that it may be disintegrated, and, in a measure,
sweetened by the winter’s frost. In the course of the
winter, manure from the barn-yard may be hauled upon it.
If this has been well worked by hogs, the better. Toward
spring, if night-soil can be poured into it, the richness of
the heap will be much increased. Sharp sand can now be
thrown over the heap, and about as soon as frost breaks

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 13

ground, the entire mass should be thrown over with forks,
and thoroughly commingled, all coarse lumps broken
up, and all frozen lumps brought to the outside of the
pile. As S00n as the mass begins to heat, the process
should be repeated once or twice, until it is made as
fine and as thoroughly mixed together, as time will allow.
The sand will be found to be excellent to keep the manure
finely divided and light, or to “cut” it, as farmers say.
In applying the manure for this or other crops, many
farmers use all the manure in the hill; some, because hav-
ing but little to use, they wish to get it as near the plants
as possible, while others seem tc hold the theory, that a
circle of three or four feet in diameter is a sufficient area
for the roots of squash vines to travel over in search of
food. Where all the manure is used in the hill, the squash
vines push over the ground rapidly, until just after the
setting of the squashes, when they lose vigor, the squashes
develop but slowly, and in the end there is a small crop of
undersized squashes, for the roots, having meanwhile
pushed beyond the hills, can not find food sufficient to
sustain the growth of the vines. The roots of squash
vines increase faster than is generally supposed. ‘There
is a theory that the roots grow to the same length as
the vines, keeping pace with them in their growth.
Whether the roots grow as long, or longer, than the vines,
I can not say, but when the runner of a vine had pushed
out but eighteen inches, I found the root over three feet
in length, thus proving that at one period of growth, the
root increases faster than the vine. This spreading of the
roots through the soil is one of the marvels of vegetable
life. I remember once lifting a small pile of litter that
was about six inches deep, some dozen feet distant from
a squash hill, when I saw what appeared to be a fine
mist at the surface of the ground, but upon examination
myriads of fine rootlets were seen, that were doubtless
feeding on the decaying vegetable matter. Any person

~

14 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

who will examine a, squash vine of the running sorts, after
it has set its fruit, will find roots pushed down into the
earth at each joint; and though these may be in part de-
signed by the Creator to steady the vine, there can be but
little doubt but that they are designed also to feed the
long runners. And this is proved by the fact, that if the
connection of the vine with the main root be severed,
while these subordinate roots remain uninjured, it will still
maintain a degree of vigor. Such facts as these sweep
all theories of hill-manuring by the board, for if the roots
travel beyond the hill in search of food, there a wise cul-
tivator will put food for them. My usual practice is this:
to distribute all the manure from my compost heap over
the field, after the first plowing, and before cultivating or
harrowing. This is thoroughly worked under (and but
just under) by the use of the wheel harrow or the
“‘Acme” harrow, both being modern implements, ad-
mirably adapted to the-work, with the cultivator, aiming
to have everything as thoroughly fined up as possible.
After the manure is well worked under, the hills or drills
are marked off by dragging a chain over the surface, the
first line being made straight by setting up two poles
ahead, and keeping them in line while walking; afterward
the lines can be kept conveniently straight by carrying a
pole of the same length as the distance desired between
the hills, and using it occasionally as a guide. After the
field is thus chained out in one direction, if it is decided
to plant in hills, it is crossed in the opposite direction,
the hills being marked out by the crossing of the lines
made by the chain. If the surface is free from large
rocks, the hills can be marked out by running two sets
of furrows, the hills being made where they cross each
other at right angles.

In the hills I work in my manure, avoiding all stable
dung, or any animal manure, as this is liable to contain
seed, and to one who raises squashes for seed purposes,

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 18

this is quite a serious objection, for, in fact, I have found
it almost impossible to keep squashes pure, where animal
manure is used in the hill) I manure in the hill, or drill,
with the most highly concentrated manures to be pro-
cured, such as guano, superphosphate of lime, or fish-gu-
ano. ‘The reason for using highly stimulating manure in
the hill is, to give the plants a quick start when young,
that they may grow beyond injury from the ravages of
the striped bug.

There is danger in using highly concentrated manures in
_ the hill, that the roots of the young plants be destroyed
—‘“burned ” is the farmer’s phrase; to prevent this, they
should be most thoroughly stirred in with the soil. My
practice is, to take such manure in a wooden bucket, and
passing from hill to hill, scatter, if phosphates, as much as
I can take up in a half closed hand; if Peruvian guano,
about half as much, over a circle of about two feet in di-
ameter. A man follows immediately after with a six-tined
fork; he is directed to turn it just under the surface, and
then draw his fork across the hill three times, and again
three times at right angles with the first direction, ending
with planting the fork in the middle of the hill, and giving
it a twist around. Iam thus particular in my directions,
because day laborers seldom realize the corrosive effects
of these highly concentrated fertilizers. After my man,
a boy follows to plant the seed; he sweeps a circle with
his finger around each hill, as he finishes planting.

After the vines have got so far along as to show their
runners, I top dress the surface with hen manure, or some
of the special manures above mentioued, and immediately
follow with the cultivator.

It will be perceived that my system of manuring is
based upon the theory that vines prefer their food near
the surface of the ground. I draw this inference from the
fact, that vines are great lovers of heat, being quite sen-
Bitive to changes of temperature, and also from tracing

16 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

roots, and finding under the old system of deep manuring,
that they would, at first starting, run but an inch or two
below the surface of the earth, when they would spread
out horizontally, and stretch on for some feet at a very
uniform distance below the surface. Again, I find my
crops very satisfactory under this system of manuring,
and for a number of years have cultivated all my crop
(four to seven acres annually), on this plan. My friends
will note that I reduce my manure very fine, and mix it
very thoroughly with the soil. My soil is a strong loam.

PREPARING THE HILLS.

The system almost universally advised and pursued in
preparing the hills for planting, is to throw out the earth
from within a circle of from two and a half to four feet in
diameter, and from six inches to a foot in depth, oftentimes
quarrying out rocks and digging into the hard-pan to get
the standard depth. Then fillin with manure, and cover this
with earth, raising a low mound in the form of a trun-
cated cone about six inches above the surface. On this
mound the seed are planted. Where the land is freshly
turned sod, the hills are usually made by cutting a hole
of the usual diameter in the sod with a sharp spade or
axe. In my own practice, I have for years given up this
method. ‘The plan of excavating a hole, and putting in it
all, or about all, the manure for the crop, appears to
be founded on the theory that the roots will confine them-
selves to the area—an idea entirely erroneous, as we have
already shown. Quarryinginto the hard-pan and putting
manure down to such cold depths, is inviting the vine to
violate its instinctive love of heat. Again, this system
involves a great deal of labor, particularly when sod land
ig planted, and on these latter the pieces of sod taken out
of the hills remain nuisances over the surface of the field,
either clogging the cultivator, or being knocked against

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC, 17

the young vines. Let any farmer try the plan of prepar-
ing his hills as I have detailed above, and [ will guaran-
tee that he will not again return to the present system.
if barn manure is to be used in the hills, let them be
made saucer shape, broad and shallow. In preparing
freshly broken sod, I find Share’s harrow and the
“Acme”? and wheel harrows excellent implements, as
they will pare down the sod to an inch in thickness, and
make the soil as easy to be worked as old ground.

HOW FAR APART SHOULD WE HAVE THE HILLS, AND
HOW MANY VINES SHALL WE LEAVE IN THE HILL?

The great error among farmers is to make their hills
too near together, and leave too many vines in each hill.
A very common distance for Marrow squashes is six feet
apart each way, three or four vines being left in each hill.

A little figuring will show the bad policy of the prac-
tice. When a Marrow squash vine grows alone—and it
oftentimes happens that one comes up among other crops
on the farm—it will mature as many as three squashes, and
at times half a dozen or more. Squashes so grown are
almost always fine types of the particular variety. Now,
on the contrary, when the hills are six feet apart, with
three or four vines to a hill, the vines will not average
one squash to each. I have been amused to receive the
estimates of farmers of the number of squashes to the
vine on the heaviest crop of Marrows they ever saw. As
often as not the reply would be “three to the vine.”
Now an acre of ground planted 6x6 will have about
1200 hills to the acre; four vines to the hill would be
4800 vines tothe acre. The present variety of Autumnal
Marrow squashes as now grown, will average above seven
pounds to the squash; if the vines produced on an aver-
age one squash apiece, we should then have 83,600 lbs., or
over seventeen tons to the acre! Whereas the largest crop
on record, as far as I am aware, of this variety of Marrow
is less than eleven tons to the acre. From such figures

18 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

the conclusion stands out with emphasis, that a system
that, taking the average of crops, dces not give over one
squash to éco vines, is unnatural, unfarmer-like, and un
profitable.

The shortest distance, where the hill system of planting
is pursued, should not be less than 8 feet each way for
- Boston Marrow squash and other running varieties,
with the exception of the Hubbard, Turban, and Yoko-
hama, which are ranker growers, and should not be
planted nearer than nine or ten feet each way. The hills
for the Mammoth varieties should be twelve or more feet
apart each way. At these distances apart, two plants in
each hill, (the vines being thinned down to that number
when the runners begin to start), will be found sufficient
to well cover the ground. Were it not for danger from
the borer, I woula never leave more than one vine to a
bill,—putting the hills in each case proportionally nearer
One of the finest crops of Turban squashes I ever raised,
a crop that took the county premium for yield that year,
was raised with but one vine to the hill, and the crop that
took our county premium the year previous was grown
with two vines to the hill. This brings us to the discus-
sion of the Drill versus Hill system of planting. On the
supposition that the great error in growing squashes has
been to crowd the roots too much together below ground,
while the vines were crowded too much together above
ground, I have advocated, and to some extent practised,
the Drill system of planting—having each vine entirely

by itself, and distributing them evenly over the ground,

Assuming that 10x10 or 100 square fect is sufficient room
for the plant, on the Drill system, I allow 7x7 or about
50 feet for one plant. In planting on this system, the field
is marked out as if for hills, the lines crossing each other
— every seven feet. In planting in drills I put three seeds
along in the line, and when the plants begin to show run-
ners, thin to one plant. By the drill system,in addition

pk cy) a v iL

a i es Cee Nee aed
yenryer mY or

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, EIc, 19

to the advantages above claimed, I think that the crop is
more uniform in size, and the squashes are better propor-
tioned in their mn than under the hill system. The
vines being in a row, instead of a circle, the cultivator can
be carried 7 nearer to them. Most of my land is very un-
even, otherwise I should always plant in drills in preference
to hills,

PLANTING THE SEED.

The quantity of seed per acre for the Marrow and Hub-
bard varieties is set by practical farmers at two and a
half pounds. This allows for liberal planting with a good
surplus for after use, should cold or wet weather rot the
seed, or insects destroy the plants that first appear. Four
seeds in the hill and three in the drill is sufficient. The
seed should not be put in, in the latitude of Boston, earlier
than the 10th of May, and may be saiely sown in ordinary
seasons as late as the first of June, and success is some-
times attained with seed planted on rich, warm land as
late as the twentieth of June. A part and sometimes all
of the seed planted as early as the 10th of May will
rot in the ground; yet to get the vines along early, and
thus enable them to survive the attacks of the squash
bugs, farmers oftentimes take this risk. If, after a cold,
wet spell, the planter mistrusts the seed have rotted in
the ground, let him scratch away the earth carefully with
his fingers (it is infinitely easier to put aseed under than
to find it again !), and if the seed is rotten, it will readily
show it when pressed between the Seals and finger.

Seed may be planted either by using the hoe, (drop ping
the seed, and covering with the hoe,) or each one may be
thrust into the ground with the thumb and finger. If the
attempt is made to push the seed under by the finger
alone, it is frequently left too near the surface, as the

_ finger is very apt to slip by it unawares. If squir-

20 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

rels or field mice abound, it will be found safer to plant
with the hoe, as the little rascals appear to have a rare
faculty for smelling out the very spot where the seeds lie
when thrust under by the finger. I have known them to
hegin at one end of a field and pass from hill to hill in a
straight line across the field, digging out every seed with
unerring accuracy. Seed opened with a knife and rubbed
with arsenic or strichnine and scattered in the paths will
generally check them. ‘Two inches is ample depth in any
soil, and early in the spring, or in a rather wet or heavy
soil, the seed had better not be planted more than from
an inch to an inch and a half in depth.

Seed planted on upturned sod will vegetate sooner and
come up with larger rudimentary leaves than that planted
in rich, old ground; I presume that this is because sod
land lies lighter and is better drained and, consequently,
warmer than old ground. If, when the rudimentary
leaves appear, the seed shell adheres to either leaf, it
will do no harm, but if it confines both leaves together,
it should be removed, if it can be done without injury.
If a seed pushes but a single rudimentary leaf above the
surface, the plant rarely, if ever, comes to anything. If
these rudimentary leaves continue to increase in size, but
no leaf shows itself springing from between them, the
plant will come to nothing. If the young plants come
with a yellow color, it proves that the season is too cold
for them; if, on the other hand, they assume a very dark,
dull green color, it is usually because the manure with
which the young rootlets are in contact is too strong for
them; it is good policy, when the manure proves too
strong, tocarefully remove some of the earth arouud the
plants with the finger, and with the finger stir in a little
fresh earth.

Tf, as at times will happen, some hills are entirely desti-
tute of plants, it is far better to plant them with seed
than to transplant surplus vines from other hills; true,

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETO. 21

such vines sometimes root at once, but if checked in their
growth by transplanting, they rarely amount to anything
in the end.

This is one of the great conditions of success in squash
culture, to have the vines start well and make a rapid
growth without a check, Experience has frequently
proved that late planted vines will oftentimes ripen their
crops as early, and usually bear heavier crops, than those
planted two or three weeks sooner.

HILL CULTURE AND LEVEL CULTURE.

After the plants appear, it is customary to draw earth
around them; this is a good practice as far as it tends to
keep them from being broken off by the winds. It is
also an almost universal custom to draw up the earth into
a mound of two or three feet in diameter, gradually in-
creasing the height of it with each hoeing until it is six
inches or more above the level of the field. I consider
the labor entirely useless, to say the least, and have con-
fined my own practice for several years past to level cul-
ture, making no hills, and drawing just earth enough
home to each plant to keep it from being swayed, and
thus injured by the wind.

HOEING AND CULTIVATING.

About as soon as the plants show themselves above the
surface, the Cultivator should be set running. If the
hills have been made equi-distant each way, the surface
can be cultivated close home to them on every side, leav-
ing but little work for the hoe. In no department of
farming is the superiority of the Cultivator over the com-
mon hand-hoe brought out in stronger contrast, than in
working the large open areas between squash hills. I

22 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

would rather have the work done by a one-horse Culti-
vator with a boy to direct the horse and a man to hold
the implement, than have the services of twenty men
with hand hoes; for not only would the surface be gone
over in equal time, but the ground be more deeply and
more thoroughly stirred, and the weeds be better shaken up
and turned under than would be possible with hoe cul-
ture. The cultivator should be used as often as the
weeds start, and whenever the surface appears hard, the
object being two-fold, to eradicate weeds and keep the
surface light and mellow. If witch grass abounds, the
Cultivator must be freely used, particularly when the
surface is hot and dry, that the vitality of the freshly
torn roots may be destroyed. It is not well to leave
the soil unstirred until the weeds have grown to some
size, as such are very apt to re-root. If the Cultivator
is used while the weeds are small, it can be spread
open to its utmost capacity. It is always well to have
one course of the Cultivator half overlap the preceding
one.

The last,and one of the most critical, periods when
the Cultivator is needed, is just previous to the push-
ing out of the runners over the surface of the field.
The vines are then growing rapidly, (I have found that
the large varieties, by actual measurement, grow as
much as fourteen inches m twenty-four hours), and if
special care is not exercised, the runners will push so far
as to prevent the final use of the Cultivator. The re-
sult will be a very weedy field the remainder of the
season. I have sometimes practised, when caught in
this way, breaking the hold of the tendrils and turning
aside with the band such runners as had got so far
from the hills as to be in the way of the Cultivator;
but I have observed that where the tendrils are broken
from whatever they have naturally clung to, as often as
not the vines are injured so muck by the wind that

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 23

they yield little or nothing; they are so twisted that
they are often completely inverted; and though the
leaf stalks are true to their instincts, and bring them-
selves perpendicular to the surface, yet in doing so, the
curve they make, passing under the vine, lifts it a little
above the surface, too far for the joint roots to strike
into the earth to hold the plant in place and nourish
it. It is a bad plan ever to break the hold of the ten-
drils, and as a general rule better allow the large weeds
that appear towards the close of the season to remain,
than to pull them up and tear them out from among
the vines. If the weeds are to be removed, better cut
them off close to the surface and leave them. A
Squash crop will foul the land at the very best, and let no
one plant to squashes with the idea that the frequent
cultivation allowed early in the season will tend to im-
prove a piece of ground already foul with weeds; for
young weeds will spring up as soon as the spread of the
vines prevents the farther use of the Cultivator, and
when the leaves begin to thin out, at the close of the sea-
Son, under the stimulant of the sun and air, these soon be-
come mammoths in the rich soil. When we consider that
climbing appears to be natural to the squash vine, the in-
jury caused by breaking the hold of the tendrils, and by
the moving about among the thick net work of vines to
do this, in connection with the fact that at best it is next
to impossible to keep the ground in clean condition, I
question whether, as a general rule, it is not better to
allow these late and large weeds to remain untouched, and
leave the clearing of the ground to the crop of the next year.

When the area of ground is small, and very clean cul-
ture is desirable, I would advise the driving of a few
stakes among the vines to givé the runners a hold when
they first push out. I+ is not necessary that these stakes
should protrude more than one or two inches above the
surface,

24 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

Many old farmers lay down the rule that no one shall
set foot on the squash patch after the vines meet between
the rows. ‘This is a good general rule, for most men
tread among vines as ruthlessly as though passing among
wire cables, crushing them under foot with perfect impu-
nity. I don’t think I ever saw a farmer pass among even
his own vines with what I should call proper care. If
necessary to pass among vines, carry a short stick in one
hand to lift the leaves to see where the foot is to rest be-
fore planting it.

SQUASHES WITH OTHER CROPS.

In the vicinity of large cities, where land, manure, and
labor are costly—and much of the market gardening in
the vicinity of Boston, New York and Philadelphia is
on land worth from $500 to $1,000 an acre—farmers
usually grow their squashes in connection with other

crops, such as Peas and early Cabbages or early Potatoes.

If early Peas or Cabbages are planted in rows three feet
apart, by omitting every third row, and planting this
to squashes at the usual time, the crops will not inter-
fere with each other, as the squashes do not push their
runners till July, after the pea crop has been marketed.
With Cabbage, the third row may be omitted, or every
third plant in the third row; this will give the squashes
9x9. It will be seen that squashes can be raised only
with the earliest varieties of Cabbage, such as Early
Wakefield, Early Oxheart, Early York, Little Pixie,
Burnels, King of Dwarfs, that have been started in a hot
bed. The plan practised occasionally of growing
squashes among corn, I consider a bad one. It is very
common in the country to plant at the second hoeing a
couple of seed of the Yellow Field Pumpkins in every
third or fourth hill, and the yield is usually satisfactory
to the farmer; though if a field was divided in two, and

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 25

an accurate account kept of the income from each half, I
am inclined to believe that it would be found that what
was gained in pumpkin was more than lost in corn.
Squashes are. more delicate in their habits than the hardy,
rough vined pumpkin, and the result of attempting to
grow them with corn is usually a small crop of. inferior
specimens.

SETTING OF THE FRUIT.

Soon after the runners have put forth, blossom buds
will begin to appear at the junction of the leaf-stalks with
the vine. As the buds develop, the stems will develop
also, until the latter grow a foot or more long, a little
longer than the leaf-stalks. The blossom now opens,
and we have a large yellow flower, several inches in di-
ameter, with a powerful and rich fragrance, very similar
to that of a magnolia. This flower has at the center a
yellow cylinder, about an inch in length, covered with fine
yellow pollen. I find that many persons look for their
squashes from this class of flowers. Squash vines have
the sexes distinct in each flower, being what botanists call
moneecious. ‘These are the male flowers, and from their
structure can never produce squashes; their office is
wholly to supply pollen to fertilize the pistillate or female
flowers. ‘The first pistillate or female blossom rarely ap-
pears nearer the root than the seventeenth leaf, or farther
than the twenty-third. Instead of having a long stem to
support it, this flower opens close down to the juncture of
the leaf-stalk with the vine. It has a small globular for-
mation beneath it, which is the embryo of the future
squash. If the structure of the center of the blossom is
examined, it will be found to differ from the tall, male
flower, in having the central cylinder divided at the top
into several parts, usually four, sometimes six in number.
These are what botanists call the pistils, and it is necessary

2

26 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

that the fine yellow dust of the male flower should touch
these, to fertilize them, that seed may be produced, and
consequently a squash grow—for the primary reason why
a squash grows, is, to protect and afford nutriment to the
seed, the use of it as food being asecondary matter. This
may be proved by so confining a blossom, that no pollen
ean get access to it, when the blossom will usually wilt,
and the embryo squash turn yellow and decay. If the fe-
male flower be broken off from the embryo squash before
the flower has come to full maturity, the squash will de-
cay. These female blossoms are so covered and hidden by

the tall leaves, that it is evident that the fertilizing pollen - -

must be conveyed to them by the bees, to whom the
squash field affords a remarkably rich harvest. All of the
crossing or mixing of squashes is caused by the pollen
from the male flowers of one variety being carried by the
bees to the female flowers of another variety. SQUASHES
ARE CROSSED OR MIXED IN THEIR SEED, AND NOT IN THE
Fruit. Many cultivators are in error on this point; they
have the very common illustration of the crossing of dif
ferent varieties of corn in their mind, where the mixture
of the varieties is at once apparent to the eye, and infer
from this, that the mixture between different varieties of
squashes should make itself visible to the eye the same sea-
son it occurs. A moment’s reflection will correct this;
the crossing of the first season is always in the seed, and
for this reason we see it in the corn the first season, as the
seed is immediately visible to the eye, while the various
colors of the different varieties also aid us in the matter.
With squashes the crossing is likewise in the seed, and
hence can not be seen in them, until the seeds are
planted, when the yield will show the impurity of their
blood. But, though the crossing can not be seen in the
squashes themselves the first season, yet, if one of the va-
rieties planted near each other, has seed having the pecnu-
liar, thick, salmon-colored coating, so characteristic of

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 27

some of the South American varieties, this indication of
admixture may be detected by the eye the first season.
The parallelism between the crossing of squashes and corn
may be carried further, for it is oftentimes true with corn
as with squashes, that there is a mixing of varieties, of
which no indication can be detected in the seed by the eye
the first season, which a second season will develop—what
was before an eight-rowed variety, into a ten or twelve-
rowed sort, or dark kernels may be replaced with white
ones, and by numerous similar freaks, bring to light an
admixture of varieties.

It is of considerable practical importance, that the law
of admixture should be clearly understood, that the risk,
incidental to planting seed from squashes that look pure,
should be generally known ; for it will be seen from what
I have written, that seed taken from squashes that ex-
ternally are perfect types of their kinds, may yield a
patch, where every one may show marks of impurity.
Again, no matter how many varieties are planted together,
no crossing from the result of that planting will be seen
in the external shape, color, or appearance of the crop the
same season.

To have squash seed pure, the squashes from which they
are taken, must have been grown isolated, and this not
only one season, but for a succession of seasons. Should
several varieties of squashes be grown together, and it be
desirable to keep one variety pure, it can be done by pre-
venting any male flowers of the other varieties from ma
turing—no easy job, as those who have tried it know. The
product of any particular blossom may be kept pure under
such circumstances by covering with fine muslin, removy-
ing it only to fertilize with pollen from a male flower of
its own vine.

The location of the female blossom, in a measure cover:
ed by the leaves, and low down, but little affected by the
wind, would render it probable that it depends for fertili-

28 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

zation on the bees, rather than on the wind; and the fact
(as a friend who has tested it, informs me) that if only a
high fence intervenes between two varieties, the admixture
between them is comparatively small, corroborates this
theory. To preserve the degree of purity that is neces-
sary in raising different varieties, requires planting at dis-
tances apart varying with the natural aspect of the coun-
try; a level tract requires longer distances than would
be necessary in an undulating country, and a space inter-
vening abounding in flowers is a better protection
than an equal distance where flowers are less numerous.
The object is to get the pollen removed from the thighs
or bodies of the bees, or have it.covered by the pollen of
other flowers, before they can pass from a field of one va-
riety of squash to that of another. My own practice is, to
secure the planting of one continuous district of country
with the same variety of squash, by giving to farmers,
whose lands are near my own, my stock seed for their own
planting. Even with this precaution matters will have to
be looked after, lest after all promise to the contrary, greed
can not muster sufficient moral courage to induce them
to pull up the transient vines that spring up from the ma-
nure among potatoes or other crops. Old farmers will pro-
fess, from the appearance of the calyx end, to classify
squashes as male or female; this is all nonsense, for, as
will be inferred from what has been stated, every seed
from every squash contains the two sexes in itself, in its
capacity to produce both male and female flowers.

Squash fields usually make about three settings of fruit.
I do not mean by this that each vine makes three settings,
but that this is usually true of a field as a whole. It often
happens, that most of one oftheir settings, usually the
second, turn yellow and rot, after many of the squashes
reach the size of goose eggs. This is very apt to take
place, should there be a cold, wet spell just after they
have set. Sometimes all three of the settings will grow,

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 29

and then stories of great crops will be heard of in the
squash districts. When a young Hibbard squash is mak-
ing a fine growth, it will have a shining green appearance,
as though just varnished, If the appearance of the squash
changes to a dull green lee the days of that squash are
numbered ; it will soon el and decay.

PINCHING VINES.

I have seen a vine perfect the growth of a squash 20 lbs.
in weight, though it had been cut off within a foot of
the squash when it had reached the size of an orange, and
another squash of about the same size was also matured
on the same vine, about four feet nearer the root. The
vine was highly manured, and grew on very deep and
rather moist muck and loam. I can not yet determine the
laws which govern the art of pruning vines, I have had
some, the young squashes of which appeared to do finely
after the extremities of the runners were nipped at near
the close of the season, and others, where the young
squashes turned yellow and died, under, seemingly, pre-
cisely the same circumstance. I am inclined to think,
that it is not well to pinch off the ends of the vines be-
fore the young squashes have attained to the size of a
large orange. How far a crop of squashes might be in-
creased by the nipping of the vines, or a pruning of the
roots, is a problem yet to be settled. The use of the
cultivator just before the vines spread, must do much
in the way of root-pruning the vines.

THE RIPENING AND GATHERING OF THE
CROP.
In seasons, in which the early part of summer is cold,

farmers sometimes get almost discouraged with the small
number of squashes that 92t, and the slow growth of such

30 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

as do form, but a few hot weeks may entirely change
the aspect of affairs.

When we have good corn weather, it takes but a few
weeks tomature a squash. I have known instances when
the first fruit set was completely destroyed by a hail storm,
which occurred in September, and yet a fine crop of
squashes was gathered from the vines. When June and
July are colder than usual, farmers will often come out
from an examination of their squash patch with a signifi-
cant shake of the head, yet I have never known aseason, in
which cold or wet prevented the growing of a fair crop
of squashes on land selected with judgment, well ma-
nured, and taken care of. The degree of ripening to
which the crop attains, will be affected by a cold and wet
season, but the chances of a crop are equally good with a
season wetter and consequently colder than usual, as with
a season hotter and dryer than ordinary, for, in addition °
to the check to their development caused by a drought,
the bugs are most numerous and active in a dry time.

Ripening is indicated in the soft or fleshy stemmed
squashes, such as the Hubbard, Marrow, and Turban, by
the drying of the stem, which shiinks just where it
joins the squash, and a dead, punk-like appearance
which it assumes. ‘The leaves near the root gradually
turn yellow and dry up, and the squashes themselves
change color; the Hubbard assuming a duller, more rus-
set color, and the Marrow and Turban sorts a deeper
orange. The skin of the Marrow and Turban will now
offer more resistance to the thumb-nail, while the Hubbard
will begin to put on a shell, which will be first detected —
near the stem end. It is a singular fact, that the shell of
the Hubbard squash usually begins to form on the under
side—the part towards the ground. When this stage is
reached, squashes can be safely cut for storage.

At some seasons, a large portion of the crop, and, at
most seasons, a small portion of the crop, just before

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 31

ripening, are affected by a blight, which turns the leaves
black near the hills, when they die down, and all the signs
of early maturity are presented to the inexperienced eye.
When the process of ripening goes on naturally, the ex:
posure to the sun’s rays, after the leaves have died, does
no harm, but promotes the full maturing of the squash ;
but when squashes become exposed before the natural
time, by the blighting of the leaves, they are, particularly
if of the hard-shelled kinds, apt to be ‘‘sunscalt,” as the
term is, by which is meant a bleaching, or whitening of
the part most exposed to the sun. Such squashes rarely

form shells, and, if badly scalded, are apt to rot at the part
affected. In cutting squashes from the vines, a large and
sharp knife is needed. There are two ways to cut squashes
from the vines; one is, to cut the vine, leaving a small
piece attached to the stem. By so doing, the stem does
not dry up so readily, and as large stems, when green, will
weigh as much as a quarter of a pound, if squashes are to
be sold soon after gathering, this makes considerable addi-
tion to their weight. Narrow, selfish men sometimes cut
their squashes this way.

The usual way is, to cut the stem from the vine. When
first cut, more or less sap will run out in a stream from
the hollow stem, though the squash may be fully ripe.

A CRITICAL PERIOD.

What shall be done with the squashes after they are cut
from thevines? Thestems need a little exposure to the sun
to scar them, and the earth, which adheres to those grown
on low land, should be carefully rubbed off while moist,
as soon as the squashes are cut. A good way to accomplish
this, is, to let the squash remain where it is cut, provided
the leaves do not shade it, care being taken to give it 4
turn, to bring the under side up to the sun.

If there is danger from frost, it is better to gather them

32 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

together at convenient distances, that they may be more
readily protected. The interval between the cutting of
squashes and the storing of them is a critical period, as
oftentimes the keeping of the crop depends upon the
course then taken. There is a pernicious practice, quite
prevalent, of placing them in piles as high as can be made,
without their rolling off Should frost threaten, this, of
course, is necessary in order that the mass may be the
more readily covered with vines to protect them; but
when so piled, as soon as danger from frost is over, they
should at once be taken down, so that all may be exposed as
much as pessible to the sun and air. Farmers, in handling
squashes at this period, are apt to lose sight of one im-
portant fact, viz.: that when asquash is cut from the vine,
its vitality is impaired, and it has no longer such power to
resist the effects of atmospheric changes as it had previous
to the separation. I say its vitality is “impaired,” for
the fact that the seed continues to fill out for a month or
two after the squashes are gathered and stored, proves
that there is a degree of vitality, however feeble, yet
remaining in the squash after separation from the vine.
The fact that sap exudes and gradually thickens into
tears, or, at times, runs in a stream from the stems
when cut, no matter how ripe a soft stemmed squash
may appear to be, seems to prove that some vital function
of the sap vessels has been disturbed; while the greater
readiness with which such squashes decay, carries us be-
yond theory to the fact of a diminished vitality. I have
known the lower layer of a lot of Marrow squashes in the
Acld, to be found rotten through and through on removal—
and this when there had been no frost to injure them—the
result being due wholly to the dampness of the ground, dur-
ing a rainy interyal, acting on a diminished vitality.

Thave known instances in which lots of Marrow squashes
that had never been touched by frost, and were perfectly
sound when stored, were suddenly covered with spots of

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 33

black rot, soon after they were put intoa dry apartment.
These lots had been exposed in the field in piles during
a series of days of cold rain. The practical lesson to be
drawn from such facts is, that squashes should never be
left in the fields exposed to cold rains after cutting.

After the stems have had the sun a couple of days to
iry and sear them, and even before, if cold, wet storms
threaten, the squashes should be piled with great care en
spring wagons, and taken from the feld. The rule should
be laid down as invariable, that no squash shall be drop-
ped in any stage of its progress, from the field to the
market; they should always be laid down.

THE STORING OF THE CROP.

Squashes are usually at their lowest price in the fall of
the year, after the crop has been gathered, and before the
first severe frosts. The crop being bulky, and requiring
dry storage, farmers are intent on getting it to market be-
fore cold weather sets in. After the first severe freezing
weather, the crop is usually held at a higher figure, as the
surplus not intended for storage has been disposed of. In
the immediate vicinity of the large cities of the North, a
large proportion of the crop is stored in buildings known
as “‘ squash-houses,” to be marketed during the winter and
spring months. These buildings are oftentimes old dwelling-
houses, school-houses, or ware-houses, removed from their
original locations to the farm, and then put to this second-
ary use. I present a vertical section of my own squash-
house, by which the general features of all of them can
be seen at a glance.

In dimensions, the building is about 24x35 feet, with a
height of 10 feet to the plates. It is divided into three
rows of bins, which are separated from each other and
the sides of the building by aisles, (A, A, A,) about 26
_ inches in width,a distance which admits of the easy handling

ox

o4+ SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

of a bushel basket, or barrel. The bins, (B, B, B,) are
about 5 feet wide, 26 inches high, and 25’/, feet long. The
uprights, which support the series of bins, are small joists,
2x4 inches, with cross-ties of inch or inch and a quarter
board sunk into them, on which the several platforms are
laid. These uprights are the width of the bins apart,
viz.: 55 feet. At the edges of the bins, boards, 6 inches

WLLL LLL
YLLLLLLLLLILLILLLL LLL LA

MMMM LE

| LLL TLE
WIOTH 22 FT
SECTION OF SQUASH-—HOUSE.

wide, are laid, to prevent the squashes fiom rolling out.
These boards should be planed on the inner, upper edge,
that they may not cut into the squashes that lean upon
them. The series of floors are made of strips of board,
from four to six inches wide, nailed about half an inch
apart, to allow a circulation of air. It is well to have
the lower floor a sufficient distance from the floor of the
squash-house, to permit a cat to go under. The cellar wall
should be carried close up to the floor, by filling in front
of the timbers with brick, or small stones and mortar;
this will prevent rats from working through. As the
building is designed to support much weight, it should be
strongly braced by timbers crossing from plate timber to
plate timber, to prevent spreading, while the cross-timbers,
in the cellar, require props of masonry, or joist. To eco-

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 35

nomize in fuel, on the two coldest sides, my squash-house
is doubie plastered, and has double windows all around;
some have inner wooden shutters to each window, which
are kept up during cold weather, both day and night, only
as much light being admitted, at times, as may be neces
sary, while attending to work. The roof has five sliding
windows, which assist in ventilation and give light to the
upper part of the building, that otherwise would be quite
dark when filled with squashes. The stove is at one of
the coldest corners, with a funnel passing across to a,
chimney at the opposite corner. A building of the above
proportions will hold about one ton of Hubbard squashes
to two bins, and by careful and close stowage in all avail-
able room, it can be made to hold about sixty tons.

There is an advantage in having a low, wide building
rather than a high and narrow one, as a greater portion of
it is accessible from the floor, it is less exposed to cold
winds, and the heat is more evenly distributed. In a high
building, the heat in the upper portion is apt to be excessive.

The squashes should be brought to the squash-house in a
dry condition, and be stored before dew falls. The stems
being yet green, the squashes should be so piled as to
bring these to the outside as much as possible. In placing
the squashes on the shelves, put the largest ones on the bot-
tom, giving them all a slant in one direction; they will
thus pack better, and the uniformity will be agreeable to
the eye. From the beginning of the storing,every win-
dow and door should be kept open-during fair weather,
and a fire at the same time will help in the drying of the
stems. Should there come a damp time of one day or
more, by all means start the fire. The stems will be apt to
mould some, and the air of the building have a disagree-
able smell if they decay, though a little moulding may
always be expected. In about three weeks from the time
of storing, the stems will be dry. In handling the squashes,
I need hardly reiterate the caution of care. My practice

36 SQ JASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

is to form a string of boys, from the wagon to the
shelves, and the squashes are tossed from one to another,
with the caution to handle them like eggs. Boys well
trained will not drop more than one squash to the ton, and
I have known my boys to pass several tons without drop-
\ping a single squash.

CARE DURING THE WINTER.

If the squash-house has been built with reference to
warmth, when once filled with squashes, it is surprising
with what little fire frost can be kept out. The mass of
squashes are, in themselves, a great store-house of heat,
and with inside shutters for the coldest weather, the
building is frost proof, with a small outlay of fuel.

In my own building, capable of storing sixty tons or
more, I have a salamander stove of capacity sufficient to
hold two hods of coal. In ordinary winter weather two
hods of fresh, and a hod of sifted coal for night use, will last
about twenty-four hours. To keep the fire over night, I
leave the cover off about half an inch, and, if very windy,
also put up the door in front within half an inch of ciosed.
When I first attempted to keep squashes during the winter
in-very cold weather, I frequently sat up till sitet: and
then retired with much anxiety, lest Jack Frost should
steal a march on me before morning; but from experience
I find that asalamander can be as well regulated and as
readily controlled as a Magee stove, while the greater
length of funnel that can be used with them, by reason
of their superior draft, is a decided advantage.

No one can keep squashes to the best advantage, until
he has fully learned to so control his fire as to keep the
temperature near the freezing point, and yet not endanger
the squashes. From a want of this knowledge, almost all
squask -nouses are kept at too high a temperature, and, as
2 consequence, the squashes lose in weight and quality,
and, if they are Hubbards, in appearance also, losing then

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 37

fine dark green color, and becoming of a reddish, rusty hue.
The best temperature is as low as forty degrees. After
squashes are stored, the great desiderata are a low tem:
perature and a dry air. Should the weather be mild in the
course of the winter, never be tempted to open the win-
dows unless the air is dry,—a very rare thing in winter,
as, on most mild winter days, the air is loaded with moist-
ure. If it is desirable to air the squash-house, select a dry
day when not very cold, start up the fire and open the
windows at the roof. Squashes that were grown in a wet
season, will rot most in winter, and vice versa. Other
things equal, the keeping of squashes depends greatly on
the hygrometric state of the air—in other words, the
dryer the air the better they will keep. This is the reason
squashes keep better in a squash-house than in a cellar—
the house is no warmer than a cellar, but the air is dryer.
In dry, sandy cellars, by the aid of a fire, they can be kept
about as well as in a squash-house. Squashes in dry
cellars will usually keep very well until January, and some-
times to the first of February, particularly if the damp,
external air can be kept from them. Several years ago I
lost not far from twenty-five tons of squashes in about ten
days, as I now believe, from having admitted the warm,
damp air of a January thaw into the cellar. After squashes
are stored, the less they can be handled the better; and
in cellars, it is oftentimes better to let a few rot than to
overhaul squashes late in the season with reference to
culling out the rotten ones, for, after such overhauling,
they usually decay faster than before. Cellar-kept
squashes have some advantag :s over these kept in a squash-
house; they keep their origiual rich green color, lose but
little or none in weight, and areof better quality. They
do not keep as long, and, if the cellar was to any degree
damp, they quickly perish when sent late tomarket. This
fact is now generally known to dealers, and they hesitate
to purchase cellar-kept squashes late in winter. The win-

38 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

ter of 1866-7 was a memorable one among the squash
ten of Massachusetts. Squashes being remarkably plenty
and cheap in the fall, every squash-house in the vicinity of
Boston was filled to overflowing. As the season advanced,
squashes began to show a remarkable tendency to rot, and
the result was that, in many cases, as large a proportion
as four-fitths of the crop rotted before spring opened. The
summer previous had been unusually wet and cold.

If apples, squashes, or any other fruits are gathered
ripe, the next step is to decay; but if they are not fully
ripe, they have this intermediate step to take before de-
caying. Heat is an agent in promoting progress in each
of these steps ; hence, the less heat above a freezing temper-
ature in which squashes can be kept, other conditions
being equal, the longer they will keep.

The very small squashes which are usually given to stock
as soon as gathered, are among the very best for keeping,
provided they are stored in the warmest part of the build-
ing. Late in spring they are salable at a high figure for
cooking purposes. Out of about five hundred pounds of
such squashes stored so near my salamander that the
outer tier cooked with the heat, I found but about ten
pounds of defective squash when I overhauled them
for the first time, near April. Squashes planted about the
first of June will usually keep better than those planted
earlier, on the same principle that-the Roxbury Russet,
and Baldwin, keep better than the Porter, or Sweet Bough
.apple, the former not being ripe when gathered. The
order in nature is that fruit shall ripen before it decays.

MARKETING THE CROP.

Squashes are sold by the squash, by the pound, and by
the barrel. Sales of the fall and winter varieties by the
squash are altogether unknown in the Hastern States, at
least so far as my knowledge extends. In the markets
of New England, after the summer squashes, of which

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 39

there is but a limited demand, the Marrow and Turban are
brought to market, and, before frosty weather sets in,
they are sold by the barrel or ton to the dealers. Late in
the fall the Hubbards begin to come to market, or if
sold just after gathering, are rather forced on the
market, the Marrow and Turban being nsually recognized
as the squashes for fall use. During the winter, the sup-
ply from the squash-houses around Boston is mostly
brought to market in barrels, and-sold by the barrel with-
out weighing. This is poor practice, as there is often a
number of pounds difference made by the thickness of
the squash, its size, the packing, and the size of the barrel.
Such a system of marketing is apt to tempt to petty trick-
ery.

A greater or less proportion of stored squashes will
decay under the most favorable circumstances. It is the
policy of the squash grower to lose as little as possible in
this way, and the custom of the markets of Boston usually
allows a little latitude inthis matter. Hence, particularly
as the season advances, one or more squashes that hav

_small rotten spots on them, are often packed in a barrel.
The Hubbard is a very deceiving squash; it may be en-
tirely rotten inside, and yet, to inexperienced eyes, appear
perfectly sound without. If the outside has white mould
spots, looking like some of the concentric mosses, the
squash is usually sound underneath the shell; but if these
mould spots are greenish or yellow, it is usually soft rotten
in aspot just beneath them. If the shell at either end,
(and the Hubbard usually begins to decay at the ends),
has a watery look outside, the squash is usually consider
ably decayed underneath. If the Hubbard is very light,
it has usually the dry rot inside; if remarkably heavy, it
is sometimes water-soaken and worthless. If a squash,
on being cut, proves to be water-soaken, a close exami-
nation will usually show some small opening, where, during
some stage of its growth, the air or water found entrance.

40 - SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

FROST-BITTEN SQUASHEHS.

With the utmost care, squashes will at times get frost-
bitten. The Marrows and Turbans show this by turning
to a darker orange color on the injured part. If as
much as one-balf of.a squash has been frozen, it is
affected all through, and will certainly soon decay; the
best disposition to make of such a squash is, to keep
it very cool until it can be fed to the stock. If less
than half has been frozen, before the sun shines on it,
turn that side to the ground, excluding the light as
much as possible; this will take out the frost and save
it, if any remedy will, though such a squash is always
unreliable property. Some years ago I had a load of
- Marrow squashes brought me, which had been stored in
a barn during a cold spell, and the outer tiers had been
frost-bitten. I separated the badly injured ones, put-
ting them, frozen side down, in a dark cellar on the
damp earth, and stored such as showed no signs of injury.
on the shelves. In a few days no signs of the trouble
could be seen on those stored in the cellar, and they kept
apparently as well as though they had never been injured,
while those stored on the shelves soon rotted badly. The
hard-shelled squashes are not as much injured by frost as
are the Marrow and Turban; if the squash hasa shell, the
_ result will usually be the production of a dry rot under
the shell as far as the injury extended, and no further. I
have cut Hubbard squashes in February that had been
frozen in November, for about five inches square of their
surface, and found all the injury limited to this space.

MARKET PRICES OF SQUASHES.

Marrow squashes have varied in price in the markets
of New England from $10 to $40 per ton; these varia-
tions are caused, for the most part, by the quantity
brought to market, for, though equal areas may be

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. Al

planted, there may be all this difference, owing to effect
of drouth, or the greater prevalence of insects in one

_ geason over another.

Prior to the war, the Marrow ruled in the market at
from $15 to $20 per ton, and the Hubbard at from $20 to
$25. ‘The extremes of prices of the Turban and Hubbard
have been from $20 to $50; the average having been
nearly $34. These are the market rates just after the
crop is gathered. As the season advances, prices have
sometimes risen to 50, 60, 70, 80, and 100 dollars per
ton, and occasional lots kept late into the spring, and
sold by the barrel, have brought as high as $140 per ton.
I once sold four tons for $400; yet so very poorly did the
crop keep that winter, the profit would have been equally
great had I sold at $25 per ton in the fall.

Squash-farming, on lands pushed well out into the
ocean, has some advantages over inland farming. Neither
the cabbage or turnip fly, nor the pea bug, squash bug, or
any other destructive insect—the Colorado beetle excepted
—is nearly as prevalent in such sections as just back from
the coast, while the temperature being three or four de-
grees higher late in the fall, usually carries the crop
through the first severe frost, and gives it the advan-
tage of two or three weeks of the good ripening weather, .
which frequently precedes the severe frosts that usher in
winter. I have known years when the maggots and bugs
proved so destructive to the vines, a few miles from the
coast, as to bring squashes up to $40 and $50 the ton,
while at the sea side the crop was as large as usual,
haying received but little or no injury.

EXPORTING TO FOREIGN MARKETS.

Squashes cannot be raised successfully in the British
Islands, although the average temperature there is higher
than ours. That period of intense heat which we call

4

42 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

our ‘‘corn weather,” is unknown to the English, and
hence they cannot succeed in the open ground with our
hot-weather loving plants, such as beans, corn, melons,
~ cucumbers, and squashes.

While in London in the year 1872, I found by inquiry
at Covent Garden Market—the great market of the me-
tropolis—that the squashes of our country were unknown
to the market-men. I made arrangements to ship them
a ton as an experiment. On returning home I prepared
a description of our standard varieties, told the facts
relative to their general use in this country, and gave
instruction in the various ways of preparing them for
the table, as simply cooked squash, and also in the form
of puddings and pies.

In answer to my inquiry how the English people liked
our American squashes, the reply came that my agent
had no means of knowing, for, as far as he had been
able to ascertain, the whole shipment had been bought up
by shop- keepers to show as curiosities in their windows.
Further correspondence developed the fact that if they
could be sold in Covent Garden Market at a shilling
(twenty-five cents) apiece, very likely a large business
could be done in them. I shipped my squashes by way
of Liverpool, and the transportation overland from that
port to London cost as much as the freight across the
Atlantic; this, in addition to the other expenses, would
have so much reduced the profits that at twenty-five
cents each the margin on squashes costing twenty dol-
lars per ton in this country, would have been too small
to make the business inviting. Now that we have direct
communication by steamer with London, it would be
wise for some enterprising Yankee to try the experiment
again. JI would advise the shipping of none but the
hard-shelled varieties, and only the ripest of these, as
the damp hold of a transatlantic steamer makes a very
poor squash-house.

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 43

SQUASHES FOR STOCK.

When a large quantity of squashes is stored, there will
always be more or less waste. If in a large town, many
of the spotted squashes can be most profitably handled
by cutting out the decayed portion, and marketing the
squash at a reduced price. It has been my practice for
years to dispose of many of my defective squashes in this
way, and the sales of these are a fair index of the com-
parative popularity of the Autumnal Marrow, Turban,
and Hubbard squashes, in a community where they have
all been grown for years, and are well known. The
sales of my market-man would average, late in the fall
and in early winter, ten pounds of Hubbard and Turban
to one pound of the Marrow, though he offered the Mar-
row at one-third the price of the Hubbard and Turban.
After many trials I have found it next to impossible to
dispose of the Marrow while having a stock of Hubbard
and Turban, hence I have adopted the plan of feeding
the former to my stock.

I have fed principally to horned cattle and pigs. The
squashes should first have the seeds removed, as these tend
to dry up milch cows, or, if fed to pigs, to cause them to
urinate very freely. The Marrow should be fed to horned
stock either in rather large pieces or in quite small ones,
to prevent choking. ‘The Hubbard should always be cut
into pieces not less than three inches square, as the shell
and the curved form of large pieces combined, are too
much for the cattle to manage.

If squashes are abundant they may be fed very liberally,
a bushel and more a day for each head ; the only danger
to be guarded against is, that they may relax the animals
too much. In value for milk purposes, they appear to
combine the good qualities of the Mangold Wurtzel and
the Carrot, both increasing the flow of milk and improy-
ing its quality. This is more particularly true of the

AA. SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

Hubbard and Turban varieties. For fattening purposes,
the Hubbard is excellent, as might be anticipated from
the large proportion of sugar which is developed in it at
the approach of winter. Ihave known a cow to be fatted
for the butcher on the Hubbard squash, used in connec-
tion with good English hay.

In feeding to pigs, it can be used raw, or boiled with
meal, or meal and scraps. My usual practice has been to
boil the squash in a Mott’s boiler, about a barrel and a
half at a time, adding a peck of beef or pork scraps,
broken into small pieces, and stirring in sufficient meal
to thicken it. When cooked, it should be cooled as soon
as possible, as the squash is very apt to sour and make the
mass thin and somewhat unpalatable to the animals. I
have known 2 sow with young to be kept wholly on raw
Hubbard squashes, and on her coming in to be in better
condition than was desirable. When hogs are fed almost
exclusively on them, squashes are apt to give the fat a
yellow tinge.

Squashes might be raised for cattle among corn, as
pumpkins are (they are better food for animals than
pumpkins), though I have doubts of the profitableness of
such double crops, where each makes its growth and ma-
tures at about the same time.

No doubt an improvement on this is, to omit every
third row of corn, and give the vacant space to the
squash hills. Among seed onions, I grow squashes with
little or no apparent detriment to either; but in this
case the crops are planted and mature with more than a
month’s difference between them at each end of the sea-
son. Besides horned cattle and hogs, many horses, goats,
poultry, and rabbits will eat squashes with avidity.

As to their comparative value as food for stock, each
grower must strike the balance for himself—the facts
being, that the yield is from one-fourth to one-third as
great as carrots, and from one-fourth to one-fifth as great

ie eels. BaP es

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ITC, £5

as mangolds, while they require but a fraction of the care
in cultivation and gathering that either of these crops do.

A number of years ago, I made a somewhat careful test
to determine the money value of squashes when fed to
milch cows, considering the three points—their fatten-
ing properties and their effect on the quantity and quality
of the milk. I found that the animals ate but little hay
when fed freely on cut squash ; they gained markedly in
flesh, their milk was richer, and the quantity much
greater. The result of the experiment was, that when fed
to milch cows, ripe squashes were worth, under the above
three heads, half a cent a pound. Their worth for either
fattening, milk, or butter alone, my experiment did not
determine.

VARIETIES OF SQUASHES.

Owing to the great tendency in the varieties of the Cu-
curbitaceous Family to cross with each other, hybrids are
very common. Seed planted the first season after the
crossing has been made, will usually produce a greater
crop than either of the parent kinds, and individual
squashes will be superior in quality to either of the pa-
rents ; yet, as a rule, hybridization is not desirable, for
after the first season, there may be a deterioration in the
quality below the average of the parent kinds, while the
mixed are not so marketable as the pure varieties.

Hubbard Squash.—I have traced the history of this
squash back to about 1798, when the first specimen was
brought into Marblehead by a market-man named Green,
who lived in the vicinity of Boston. The person who,
when a girl, ate of the first specimen, died recently, aged
ninety-three years. She recalled the form, which is
very much like the present one—turned up “like a

Chinese shoe.” It is now over thirty years since the

variety was first brought to our notice by our old washer-

46 SQUASEES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

woman, named Hubbard ; and, to distinguish it from a
blue variety that we were then raising, we called it
‘¢Ma’am Hubbard’s Squash”; and when the seed be-
came a commercial article, and it was necessary to give
it a fixed name, I called it the Hubbard squash. If
I had been able at the time to forecast its present fame,
and had I foreseen that it would become the established
winter variety throughout the squash-growing region, I
might have bestowed some more ambitious name; and
again I might not, for the old lady was faithful in her

HUBBARD SQUASH.

narrow sphere to her day and generation—a good, humble
soul—and it pleases me to think that the name of such
an one has become famous.

The form of the Hubbard is spherical at the middle,
gradually receding to a neck at the stem end, and toa
point, usually curved, at the calyx end, where it termi-
nates in a kind of buttonor an acorn. In color it is dark
green, excepting where it rests on the earth, where it is of
an orange color. It usually has streaks of dirty white,
beginning at the calyx end, where the ribs meet, and ex-
tending half or two-thirds way to the stem. After the
squash ripens, the surface exposed to the sun turns to a ~

ee a :

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. AY

dirty brown color. The surface is often rather rough,
presenting quite a knotty appearance. When the Hub-
bard is ripe, 1t has a shell, varying in thickness, from
that of a cent to a Spanish dollar.

For a year or two after we began to cultivate the Hub-

. bard, we cultivated also a blue-colored squash, called at

the time the Middleton Blue. In a few years this squash
became so thoroughly incorporated with the Hubbard, by
repeated crossings, that it appeared to have the charac-
teristics of a new variety ; hence we called it the Blue
Hubbard, and for some years I spoke of two varieties of
the Hubbard, a green and a blue kind. On testing the
blue variety by itself, I found it had the characteristics
of all hybrids—a tendency to sport. For this reason I
have endeavored to throw it entirely out of cultivation in
my seed stock. |

After the Hubbard squash became somewhat noted,
communications to the press occasionally appeared, claim-
ing that it was but an old variety revived. After giving
all of these many claims a fair examination, I am per-
suaded that the Hubbard is not an old variety revived,
and that until it was sent out from Marblehead it was
unknown in the United States. In my endeavors to trace
its origin, the nearest I have come to it was in a variety
of squash procured from one of the West India Islands,
which had many characteristics in common with the
Hubbard, though the shell of this squash was uniformly
blue in color, and its quality was somewhat inferior.

Several claimed that it was but the Sweet Potato
squash revived. I have myself raised a squash called
by that name, and have seen two or more other lots
that were raised by friends, from seed procured in dif-
ferent sections of the United States, and never have
seen one that resembled the green Hubbard.

The apparent connection between the Sweet Potato and
Hubbard squash has been made, I am convinced, through

48 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

the blue variety, which, when without a shell, has a
close resemblance to some of those kinds that go by
the name of ‘‘Sweet Potato” squash.

American Turban Squash.—I have given the prefix
American Turban Squash to distinguish it from the
French Turban, with which many seedsmen have con-
founded it. The French Turban is the most beautiful in
color, and the most worthless in quality, of all the varie-

a ties of squash that have come to
- my notice. Nearly flat in shape,
growing to weigh ten to twenty
pounds, it has a large prominence
at the calyx, shaped like a flat-
tened acorn; this is elegantly
quartered, with a button in the
middle, and is most beautifully
- striped with white and a bright
grass green, while a setting of
= bead-work surrounds it. The
AMERICAN TURBAN squass. body of the squash is of the
richest orange color. In quality the French Turban is
coarse, watery, and insipid.

The American Turban is, without doubt, a combination
of the Hubbard, Autumnal Marrow, Acorn, and French
Turban, and the finest achievement that has as yet been
obtained by hybridization. Like all hybrids, it tends to
sport, and varies somewhat in quality, so that, while most
of the squashes are of first quality, some will be found that
are inferior. With such parents as the Hubbard, Acorn,
and the Autumnal Marrow, we might expect to find a
superior squash, and in the average quality of the Turban
we shall not be disappointed ; when fully ripened, it has
dryness, fineness of grain, sweetness, delicacy of flavor,
and richness of color. Like the Hubbard, it is edible be-
fore it is fully ripe; either of these varieties, particularly

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 49

the Hubbard, being, when unripe, superior for table use to
any of the varieties of Summer Squashes. The form of
the American Turban is nearly cylindrical, the two di-
ameters being usually in the proportion of three to five,
while it is more or less flat at both the stem and calyx

~ends. At the calyx end there is usually a more or less

prominent acorn. This may be very clearly defined,
standing out quite prominently from the body of the
squash, or it may be very much flattened and sunk within
the body, with the outline barely traceable. In degree of
prominence the acorn sports greatly, for, on squashes
growing on the same vine, I have found, in one specimen, -
this part projecting very prominently, and fully devel-
oped, while on a second specimen it could only be traced
in a very rudimentary form. It is not desirable that
the acorn should be prominent, as the seeds extend into
it ; at the calyx end of the squash, the meat is very
thin, and, if the acorn is very prominent, a slight bruise
will injure it, and cause the squash to rot. For this
reason, I have of late years selected seed squashes from
those specimens in which the acorn was not very promi-
nently displayed, endeavoring to produce a type in which
it should be little more than rudimentary.

Some writers on vegetables treat the American Turban
squash as but an improved form of the French Turban,
whereas it is a distinct variety. It is indebted to the
French Turban for nothing more than the principal fea-
tures of its form, getting its quality, keeping properties,
color, and fineness of grain, from its other parents. As
the American Turban is the result of hybridization, there
is more or less variety in the shape and color of the crop;
and this will continue to be so, unless, by long and close
cultivation of a particular form, sufficient individuality
shall be acquired by this one type to stamp the entire
crop. Though it may be very pleasing to the eye to
see every specimen alike, yet I consider it too great a

oO

50 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

risk to cultivate a hybrid squash for this end; for who
knows what characteristics each parent has contributed,
or how much these are affected by each other in combi-
nation ? Untilthese points are determined, there is dan-
ger lest, in continued selections of a given type, some
good traits should be eliminated.

We know that, in some way, the original excellence of
the Autumnal Marrow squash has been lost, and no one
can, with certainty, tell when or how this disappeared ;
an admixture of other sorts was doubtless the first step
towards this deterioration, and we are inclined to believe
that a tendency to give prominence to some of the results
of the first admixture, has gradually borne under the
cood traits of the original Marrow.

Autumnal Marrow Squash.—This is also known as
the Boston Marrow, or Marrow, it having been a very
prominent squash in the markets of Boston for a series

of years. A mongrel variety of it is also known as the

“‘ Cambridge Marrow.” ‘This squash ‘was introduced to
the public by Mr. J. M. Ives, in the years 1831-2.
When introduced, it was a small-sized squash, weighing
five or six pounds, fine grained and dry, with an ex-
cellent flavor. Market-men found that by crossing
with the African and South American varieties, they
could increase the size of the original Marrow; they
did this without troubling themselves about any risk of
deterioration, and I doubt not that much of the
present inferior quality of this variety is due to this
vicious crossing. In form the Marrow is much like
the Hubbard, but with less distinctive prominence in
the neck and calyx. In color, the Marrow is between
a lemon-yellow and a rich orange; the skin is covered
with fine indentations, giving it a pock-marked appear-
ance. The body of the squash is divided into sections by
slight depressions in its longest diameter. Under the
thin outer skin, or epidermis, is a thicker skin of a dark

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. ol

orange color. ‘The flesh is orange colored. The seeds
are somewhat larger and thicker than in the Hubbard,
and considerably larger, but not so thick as the Turban.
In quality the Marrow of to-day varies much; sometimes
we find specimens that are all that can be desired, par-
ticularly as we get near to the original type (this has
been kept more nearly correct in Marblehead than else-
where), but in its general character the Autumnal Mar-
row is watery, not sweet, and oftentimes deficient in
flavor and fineness of texture. From its great produc-
tiveness, it is a favorite squash with market-men, and its

AUTUMNAL MARROW SQUASH.

rich orange color and handsome form render it popular
with those who have not become acquainted with the
more recently introduced and finer varieties. There are
two varieties grown for the Boston market known as the
Cambridge Marrow. One of these is quite large in size,
usually having the green color at the calyx, which indi-
cates a mongrel variety; the other is of medium size, and
is characterized by a brilliant orange color which makes
it very attractive to the eye. Both of them mature a
little earlier than the purer sort.

The Marblehead Squash.—Soon after I had intro-

- duced the Hubbard squash to the public, word came to

me that one of our old sea captains had it in his garden,

52 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

and had grown it there for several years, having origin-

ally brought the seed home with him from a foreign voy-
age. As I had endeavored in vain to trace the origin of
the Hubbard, I was, of course, greatly interested, and at

once called at the garden of the old gentleman. There I
found a squash growing, which had a hard shell, like”

the Hubbard, but differing from it in the color of the
shell, color of the meat, and in general shape, being quite
a different squash. I procured some of the seed, and
planted them in an isolated spot.

When the crop matured, I found, to my regret, that
it was so terribly hybridized by an admixture with other

sorts of squashes (which had been grown year after
year by the neighbors of the old captain), that it had lost
its originality. I was therefore compelled to drop it,
though very reluctantly, for the quality was remarkable.

Later I received a letter from an enterprising farmer
in the West, who wished to send me a new squash,
of the good quality of which he wrote in strong
terms. I received the squash, cooked and tested it,
found it surpassingly good, and became at once deeply
interested in it. On further correspondence, I learned
that the seed was originally brought from the seaboard,

a

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 53

and that it had been kept perfectly pure. I obtained a
supply of the seed, from which I raised a crop on my own
grounds. J found that I had the old captain’s squash
over again, with the difference that now I had it perfectly
pure! As the squash was first introduced to my notice
in Marblehead, and was a nameless bairn, I concluded
to call it after the old town ‘‘ Marblehead”; and so we
have the Marblehead Squash. :

This new squash, as a rule, is characterized by a shell
of a more flinty hardness than the Hubbard. It is usu-
ally thicker and flatter at the top. It has a greater spe-
cific gravity. The flesh is of rather a lighter color than
the Hubbard, while its combination of sweetness, dry-
ness, and delicious flavor is something really remarkable.
In yield it about equals the Hubbard, while its keeping
properties are declared to surpass that famous variety.
In the important matter of purity, it excels the Hubbard,
and every other squash that I have raised. Its outer color
isa light blue, but it is not to be confounded with the blue-
colored squashes that come at times from the Hubbard
seed. If the seed of these mongrels be planted, their
hybrid character will be seen by a terrible sporting, so
dreaded by every farmer; while, on the contrary, the
crop from the seed of the ‘‘ Marblehead” will be found
to excel in purity.

The Butman Squash.—This new squash is the only one
of our running varieties known to have originated in the
United States. For this fine variety the public are in-
debted to the scientific knowledge, the skill, care, and
perseverance, of Clarendon Butman, Esq., of Maine.” Mr.
Butman selected for his experiment the Hubbard and the
Yokohama, a variety from Japan, with the object of
combining in one variety the best characteristics of both.
Any one can make a cross between two varieties, and, in
fact, nature is continually doing this through the agency
of insects; but to combine the characteristics of the

54 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

two squashes so thoroughly as to fix them, so that actually
a new variety is produced with characteristics belonging
only to itself, and fixed as permanently as in either of
the parents, has been accomplished, to my knowledge,
by but one man, and that man is Mr. Butman !

Mr. B. transferred the pollen of one variety to the
other, with the precautions well known to every scientific
man; and he repeated the process for two or three years,
until he had achieved complete success. ‘The new squash
produced is, externally, very distinct in color from any

BUTMAN SQUASH.

other kind, being a bright grass-green, intermixed with
white. In size and productiveness, it resembles the Hub-
bard ; it has a thick shell and is thick meated. The
color of the flesh is quite striking, being of a light salmon,
and lemon color when cooked. It is very fine grained
and smooth to the palate, and is remarkably dry, sweet,
and delicious ; it is entirely free from the pumpkin-like
taste occasionally found in the Hubbard, and combines
the flavor of that variety with the best quality of the
Canada Crookneck. I am inclined to the opinion that
the period when the Butman Squash is in its prime is

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 5d

from October to January, though as a keeper it is equal
to the Hubbard.

Essex Hybrid Squash.—This isa cross between the
Turban and _ the
Hubbard, having
the shape of the
former and the shell
of the latter. It isa
very handsome look-
ing squash, and the
flesh is of rather
darker average color
than that of either
the Hubbard or
Turban. As might
be inferred from its
parentage, it is a
squash of good qual-
ity, though, in my experience, it is inferior to either a
pure Hubbard or a pure Turban.

In the course of the past twenty-five years I have twice
attempted to fix the type of the hard-shelled squashes
which are occasionally found among the American
Turbans, but have failed in each of the trials, succeed-
ing, however, in each instance in getting about the same
proportion of hard-shelled specimens as is found in the
Essex Hybrid. :

The six varieties of fleshy-stemmed squashes, de-
scribed and illustrated in the preceding pages, in-
clude most of those raised for market purposes. ‘There
is a large number of other varieties, such as the Valparai-
so, African, Honolulu, Sweet Potato, and others, some
of which have quite distinct characteristics, that are

ESSEX HYBRID SQUASH.

more or less raised in the family garden; several of

these are of inferior quality, some are hybrid, and though
one or two may be desirable for the garden, yet none of

56 - SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETO.

them, as far as I have made acquaintance with them, have
characteristics which would invite their general cultivation.

In that excellent work by my friend, Fearing Burr,
“The Field and Garden Vegetables of America,” will be
found quite a list of summer, fall, and winter squashes.
I am often in receipt of varieties of high local repute in
different sections of the country, and it is possible that
some of them when tested may prove worthy of general
cultivation.

Passing to the hard or woody-stemmed varieties, we
find included among them the Winter Crookneck, the
Canada Crookneck, Yokohama, and several others.

The Croeknecks had their day and generation before
the introduction of the soft-stemmed varieties. ‘They
were then the standard sorts, and the kitchens of thrifty

LARGE WINTER CROOKNECK SQUASH.

farmers were adorned with choice specimens suspend-
ed around the walls by strips of list, to be used during
the winter, in the course of the spring, and even during
the summer months. The Crooknecks are character-
ized by long, usually curved necks, terminating at the
calyx end in a bulb-like prominence, which contains
the seed. ‘The vines are covered with rough spines,

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 57

and in the shortness of their leaf-stalks, the smaller size
and different color of the leaves, are readily distinguish-
ed from the soft-stemmed sorts. They vary much in
color at the time of the gathering, and there is a ten-
dency in all of them to change to a yellow hue in the
course of the winter. In quality, the Large Winter
Crookneck is coarse-grained and watery, while the Can-
ada Crookneck is finer grained, and at times quite dry
and sweet. ‘The Winter Crookneck weighs from ten to
twenty-five pounds and upwards, and the true Canada
Crookneck, which is rarely found pure, averages from
three to six pounds. In keeping properties the Crook-
necks excel, frequently keeping in dry, warm apartments
the year round, and, in a few instances, two years.
When kept into the summer the seeds are at times uns
to have sprouted within the squash.

The Crooknecks are subject to a kind of dry rot, par-
ticularly in spring, which gives them a peculiar appear-
ance when cut, the tissue between the cells having a dull,
white color, though the fibres of flesh still retain their
bright yellow hue. When in this condition they are
worthless for table use. The true length of time in
which a squash keeps, is that in which it retains its
quality, and not its mere structure.

The Yokohama is from Japan, it having been received
in this country, in the year 1860, by Mr. James Hogg,
from his brother, then residing at Yokohama, in Japan.
The vine isa very free grower and a good yielder, though,
from the comparatively small size of the squash, the
weight of the crop is not large, when compared with the
Hubbard, Turban, or Marrow. The Yokohama is quite
flat with somewhat of a depression at each end. The
diameters are to each other as about one to three or four.
It is deeply ribbed, and the flesh, which is of a lemon color,
is remarkably thick, making it one of the heaviest of all

- squashes in proportion to its size. The flesh is very fine-

08 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

grained, smooth to the taste, and has a flavor resembling
the Crookneck. With those who lke the taste of the
Crookneck, the Yokohama will probably be very popular.
Externally, before ripening, it is of an intensely dark
green, and covered with blisters, like a toad’s back; as
it ripens, it begins to turn
a light brown color at
both the stem and blossom
ends, and, after storing, it
soon becomes entirely a
copper-like color, and is
covered with a slight bloom.
It may be well to start
the seeds under glass, on
squares of turf, though,
after an experience of sey-
eral seasons, I am persuaded
that it is becoming ac-
climated; indeed, my cro op has of late years ripened with
the Hubbard and Turban. The cultivation of the Yoho-
hama is mostly confined, as yet, to private gardens.

Para, or Polk Squash.—This is a half-bush squash.
In the first stages of its growth it has a bush habit, and
sets its first fruit like a bush squash, but later it pushes
out runners eight or ten feet in length, and bears fruit

YOKOHAMA SQUASH.

PARA, OR POLK SQUASH.

along them. The squash was brought to this country
from Para, in South America. In shape it is oblong ; it
is ribbed, of a tea-green color, excepting the portion

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 9

which rests on the ground, which is of a rich orange
color. The squashes weigh about three pounds each.
They require the whole season to mature, and, when in
good condition, the flesh is dry and of a rich flavor.
Like the Yokohama, I apprehend
this will be very popular with a class
rather than with the community at
large. Both the Yokohama and the
Para can be kept well into the win-
ter. [have kept a Yokohama, crossed
on the Turban, fourteen months,
and Hubbards, in two instances,
twelve months.

Cashaw.—This is the name given
to a squash grown in the South,
which in form, size, and general ap-
pearance, closely resembles the va-
riety of Crookneck known in the
North as the Puritan squash. In
quality it appears to be of a coarser
grain than are the Northern Crook-
necks. It matures too late for the North, unless start-
ed in a cold frame. ‘The seeds are peculiar in being
surrounded by a thin fringe, which makes them of mam-
moth proportions.

SS

=

EE

SSE
———

CASHAW Hee ie

Cocoanut Squash.—A magnificent little squash for
table use, very prolific, yielding from six to a dozen
or more to the vine. In beauty it excels every other
variety of squash; indeed, specimens very naturally find
a place on the maniel-piece as ornaments to the parlor—
not being surpassed in beauty by any of the gourd family.
The color is an admixture of cream and orange, the latter

- color predominating in the depressions between the ribs ;

while the bottom, over a circle of two or three inches in
diameter, is of a rich grass-green. ‘The flesh is fine-

60 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

grained, sweet, and very solid (the squash being remark-
ably heavy for its size), and the quality excellent, some-

COCOANUT SQUASH.

what resembling Canada Crookneck in flavor, but in
every way superior.

Perfect Gem Squash.—I am well pleased with this
squash. It is certainly what is claimed for it—an im-
portant addition to our list of squashes. In its habit of
growth it is like the Cocoanut,
and is very productive, as many
as twenty-four squashes having
been grown on a Single vine.

The squashes are from four to
six inches in diameter, of a light
straw color, slightly ribbed, and
oS @¢- =have a thin, smooth skin. The

flesh is dry and fine grained until
late in the fall, when it is less dry
and remarkably sweet. It is proving a good keeper as
a winter squash. It ripens about the same time as
the Hubbard. ‘This variety deserves a place in every
kitchen garden.

PERFECT GEM SQUASH.

. “
Pale i tet
PO ee eee

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 61

THE SUMMER SQUASHES.

The remarks made relative to the cultivation of the
fall and winter varieties, will apply to the cultivation of
the summer squashes, with the exception of the distance
between the hills; this, as they are of a bushy habit,
should be about five feet. In quality, the summer
squashes have but little to recommend them ; it is prin-
cipally their fresh, new taste that makes them acceptable
for the table. If my friends will use a half-grown Hub-
bard on their tables, in place of these summer varieties,
they will find it far preferable. South of New York the
cultivation of squashes is confined almost wholly to the
bush varieties. Until recently, the New York market
for fall and winter squashes has been largely supplied
by the growers around Boston.

I find that there is a strong belief among prominent
seedsmen in the Middle States, that the running varieties
of squashes will not succeed in their section—they will
not form the thick, fleshy root, they say. We, in the
North, have always looked upon the squash as a half
tropical fruit, and anticipated finding greater and greater
success in its cultivation the farther South it was planted.
It has all the characteristics of a semi-tropical plant, like
the tomato and the melon, and should it be true that
there is such a climatic limitation, it would be a marked
exception to a general law. I have but little doubt that,
under proper culture in the South, our running varieties
would do as well as at the North. It occurs to me at
this moment that the late Dr. Phillips, the former editor
of the ‘* Southern Farmer,” stated to me, in the course
of correspondence, that he had raised them by the acre
in Mississippi, with complete success.

The standard Summer Varieties are the Mellow, and
White Bush Scollop, often called Pattypan or Cymlins

. (at the South), and the Summer Crookneck. Of these

62 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

the last named is the best. All form a shell as they
ripen, and are then unfit for the table. They should not
be cooked after the shell can be felt by the thumb-nail.
The Green-Striped Bergen is an early variety, quite pop-
ular in the markets of New York. Several of the varie-

SUMMER CROOKNECK SQUASH. CUSTARD SQUASH.

ties that are grown as gourds, for ornamental purposes,
are edible; a large proportion of them, indeed, as I
have found on testing the largest of my specimens
before feeding to the pigs. As a general rule, all that
are not bitter to the taste are edible.

The Vegetable Marrow is about the only variety of

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 63

the squash family cultivated by our English cousins.
With them it is brought to the table in the same style
as our own varieties, or so cooked as to form part of
a soup.

A friend who resided some years in England, informed
me that one of the greatest novelties to an English eye
was an Autumnal Marrow Squash, which he kept asa
center-piece on his marble table for a month or more.

The Custard Squash is one of the hard-stemmed sorts,
of a yellowish cream-color, oblong in shape, deeply
ribbed, weighing from twelve to twenty pounds. It is
quite a favorite. The flesh is fine grained and of a light
straw color. The flayor is rather peculiar, and much
liked in pies by some persons. This is a large variety,
and appears to be allied in form, quality, and productive-
ness to the Pumpkins.

ENEMIES OF THE VINE.

The insect enemies are the Striped-bug (Galeruca vit-
tata), the Pumpkin-bug (Coreus tristis), and the insect
that produces the Squash-maggot. ‘The Striped-bug ap-
pears about the first of June, and, several broods being
hatched in the course of the summer, they continue their
depredations throughout the season. After the vines
have pushed their runners two or three feet, their vigor
is such that the after depredations of this little insect are
of no practical importance—with the exception of injury
occasionally done to immature squashes, the upper sur-
faces of which are sometimes found covered with them,
and hundreds of little cell-like holes are eaten out. The
injury done by the Striped-bug is mostly confined to the
period in the growth of the vine between its first appear-
ance above the ground and the formation of the fifth leaf.
They feed on both the under and upper surfaces of the

64 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

leaf, and, sucking its juices, soon reduce it to a dry, dead
net-work. ‘The eating of the seed-leaves of the plant (the
two leaves which first appear) is not always fatal, pro-
vided the bud that starts from between them is unin-
jured; if this, however, is eaten out, the plant is destroy-
ed for all practical purposes, and should be pulled up
and thrown away, even if the seed-leaves are wholly
uninjured. In localities where the Striped-bug is not
very prevalent, the greatest harm of its ravages 1s some-
times prevented by planting the seed about the 10th
of May, should the weather permit, which will enable the
vines to get so far advanced as usually to be beyond the
reach of serious injury. ‘The preventives to the ravages of
this little insect, which attacks the whole Squash family,
including cucumbers and melons, are numerous. They
may nearly all be brought under two classes : those which ©
act mechanically, by covering the leaves so as to make
them inaccessible to its punctures, and those which repel
the insect by their disagreeable odors or pungent flavor.
The best protectors of the first class are hand-glasses,
little frame-works covered with millinet or very coarse
cotton cloth; or, as this insect flies but a few inches
above the surface of the earth, any box, circular or square,
having sides about ten inches high, from which the bot-
tom has been removed, may be used. ‘The remedies of
the second class are those which are principally relied on
where squashes are cultivated on a large scale. These
should be applied early in the morning, when the dew is
on, or directly after a rain, while the leaves are wet, that —
they may adhere. In using them a small fine sieve will
be found very convenient. ‘The best of these remedies I
name in the order of their popularity in the squash-
srowing districts. Ground plaster, oyster-shell lime, air-
slaked lime, ashes, soot, charcoal dust, and common dust.
Probably the application of Paris green, either dry or in
a liquid form, would prove as efficacious in protecting

o.oo

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 65

vines from their insect enemies as it has in protecting the
potato from the attacks of the Colorado beetle. Plaster
and oyster-shell lime, I consider of equal value, and the
use of protectors in my grounds is confined to one or
other of these. Against air-slaked lime, which is very
commonly used, there is this serious objection : however
thoroughly it may be air-slaked, it still remains suffi-
ciently caustic in its nature to seriously injure the leaves,
causing more harm, by its burning properties, than good -
by preventing the ravages of the bug. I have seen an
acre of thrifty vines entirely destroyed, through the
caustic properties developed in the lime, by a gentle
shower that fell just after its application ; the leaves
were so burned that they rubbed to dust in the fingers.
Charcoal dust and soot not only protect the vines, but
serve also to draw the heat of the sun, oftentimes very
grateful to the young vines in the early season of the
year; while soot and ashes in all localities, and plaster
and lime in some places, as they are washed from
the leaves by the rain, serve as stimulating manures
to the young plants. The advantages of plaster and
oyster-shell lime are, that being very finely powdered,
they can be easily dusted over the vines, and their
conspicuous white color allows it to be seen at a glance
whether or not the leaves are fully covered. Common
dust as a protector sounds cheap, but the trouble of
collecting and separating the stones, that might other-
wise injure the leaves, is more than an offset to the
cost of other articles. These protectors should be ap-
plied as soon as the young plant breaks ground, before

- it has fairly shaken off the shell of the seed, as the insect

is then often at work, and the application should be re-

newed after every shower, the object being to keep every

leaf entirely covered, as far as practicable, until the fifth
leaf is developed. At this time the plants will usually be
beyond reach of injury from this little enemy, provided

66 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

the hills have been supplied with sufficient rich manure
to give them a rapid growth. Among this class of reme-
dies are, a decoction of tobacco and kerosene oil; a very
little of the oil (the proper quantity to be ascertained by
experiment) is added to water, which is to be stirred while
being applied. The application of water in which hen-ma-
nure, or guano has been dissolved, sprinkling the leaves
with a mixture of wheaten flour and red pepper, or snuff,
or sulphur, etc., etc., have been found efficacious by vari-
ous persons. Dr. Harris states that these insects fly by
night as well as by day, and are attracted by the light of
burning splinters of pine knots or of staves of tar barrels.
As insects breathe through pores in their bodies, such
strong ammoniacal odors as are given off from a liquid
in which hen-manure, guano, or kerosene has been mix-
ed, must tend to suffocate and repel them.

As new land is much less infested with bugs than old
land, it will be better in sections where these insects are
very troublesome, to break up sward to plant upon.

In fighting insect pests, where but few hills are culti-
vated, pieces of board or shingle laid around the young
plants, just above the surface of the ground, will collect
many on their undersides overnight; on examining the
boards early in the morning, many bugs can be brushed
off into hot water or be crushed. I don’t think much
of the plan of killing them about the vines; the old say-
ing that ‘‘when one is killed fifty will come to its fu-
neral” appears to have a savor of truth in it, for I have
noted that when I have killed them near the vines there
seemed to be no end to the business; atter constant atten-
tion, the bugs appeared to be about as numerous as at first.
I think that the odor from the dead ones attracts others.

The large black bug I consider rather a Pumpkin
than a Squash-bug. In this and in other sections,
as far as my knowledge extends, where the cultivation
of the pumpkin has been given up for a number of

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 67

years, it has almost entirely disappeared. Occasionally
a leaf of a vine will be seen pretty well covered with
the rascals late in the season, but so scarce are they,
that for several years past I have not seen, on an aver-
age, more than one each season on my vines, and I culti-
vate several acres annually. When the plants are young,
they are likely to be found, if at all, below the elementary
leaves, sucking out the juices from the vine itself. For
these fellows there is nothing like finger work. I have
known an instance in the interior where they were so nu-
merous on pumpkin vines planted among corn, that the
mere smell of them acted as an emetic to three separate
sets of hands that attempted to hoe the corn patch.

The Squash-maggot is hatched from the egg of an in-
sect bearing a close resemblance to the lady-bug, but of a
size considerably larger. The eggs are usually deposited
near the root of the vine; within an inch or two of the
ground; and in seasons when this insect abounds, eggs
are deposited at the junction of the leaf-stalks with the
stem, along some six or eight feet of vine. As soon as
the egg is hatched, the maggot begins to eat its way
through the center of the vine, and its borings will be
seen outside its hole, like those of an apple-tree borer.
The vines thus attacked will wither under a mid-day sun,
and the injured ones are thus readily detected. Squashes
on such vines usually make but little growth, and the
plants ultimately die. If the presence of the borer is early
detected, it can sometimes be killed by thrusting a wire
or stout straw into its hole ; sometimes the vine is slit
open, and the intruder found and killed ; but vines thus
treated do not always recover. If the slit portion is cov-
ered with earth and pegged down, sometimes but little
injury is done. I have taken thirteen borers from a
single vine, some of the largest being an eighth of an
inch in diameter and an inch in length.

It happens at times, after the vines have made a vigor-

68 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

ous growth of several feet, that they suddenly wilt and
die without any evident cause ; no Insects are to be found
on the leaves, there are no borers in the vines. Iam ata
loss to explain the cause of this, unlessit be that the vine
has been poisoned by something that it has taken into
its circulation. I have picked half-grown plums that
tasted as salt as brine. ‘The tree had received a heavy
manuring with salt, and ultimately died, proving that
there is such a thing in the vegetable world as a tree
poisoning itself by feeding to excess on one variety of
food; and what is true of a tree may be true of a vine.

WOODCHUCKS AND MUSKRATS.

On low land, near water-courses, Muskrats will occa-
sionally make sad havoc with the growing fruit; while
on uplands, the Woodchuck is sometimes exceedingly
destructive. If the portion troubled by muskrats is of
small area, the squashes can be protected by taking
boxes of sufficient size, cutting a narrow slit in their
sides, and setting the fruit in them, having the vines
enter and go out of the narrow slits. When muskrats
begin on a squash, so far as I have observed, they make a
finish of it before injuring others.

Woodchucks are exceedingly destructive ; they rarely
devour a squash entirely, but gnaw more or less all in the
vicinity of their burrows. If these burrows are not con-
veniently near the squash patch, they will leave the old,
and make new ones close by, or even in the midst of the
squash field. The wounds made by their broad teeth
soon heal, if the squashes have not reached their growth,
and the gnawing has not been through the squash, but
the crop is much injured for market purposes. I have
had a ton injured in this way, in one season, by a single
woodchuck. Singular as it may seem, I have noticed
that squashes so gnawed, when the wounds are not very

:
:

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 69

deep, and have had time to heal over, will keep better
after being stored, than the average of the crop. A thou-
sand and one ways are given to catch and destroy the
woodchucks ; traps set a little way down in their holes,
and carefully hidden with earth, and apples, containing
arsenic, rolled into their burrows, are among those that
have proved successful. It is worth while to offer five
dollars for the skin of a woodchuck that has commenced
depredations in a squash field.

SAVING SEED.

In selecting squashes for stock seed, take (while the
squashes are in the field, or immediately after they are
gathered) neither the largest nor the smallest specimens.
The largest specimens are very tempting, particularly so
if they have the true form, appear to be well ripened,
and, if Hubbards, have a hard shell ; but experience has
proved that these, as a class, are most likely to be of im-
pure blood. Several years ago two of my neighbors, who
had become famous for their large Hubbard squashes,
came to me to get a new stock of seed to start from.
They stated that within a few years a large proportion of
their squashes had grown soft-shelled. As they had made
it a rule to select the largest specimens for seed, I have no
doubt that the admixture (which was very evident from
the loss of the hard shell characteristic of the true Hub-
bard) had crept in in that way. Hvery old squash-grower
is aware of the great change that has come over the Au-
tumnal Marrow squash. When introduced, it was of
small size, weighing about five or six pounds, exceedingly
dry, fine grained, and rich flavored. Now its quality is
uncertain, for the most part greatly deteriorated below
the original standard, but 7 grows to double the average
size of the original squash. I have not the slightest
doubt that this deterioration is due to the vicious practice

70 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

of saving seed stock from the largest of the entire crop,
these specimens deriving their extra size from larger
and coarser varieties of the African and South American
type. If any one has doubts of this theory, he can easily
satisfy himself by examining the calyx end of a crop of
the largest-sized variety of Marrow squashes, when he
will find a proportion of them with the green color stolen
from the African or South American family.

Haying decided on medium-sized specimens for seed
stock, select those that are most strongly marked exter-
nally with the characteristics of the variety. If a Hub-
bard, it should be very thick and hard-shelled, of a dark
green color. Let it havea good neck and calyx end, and
be as heavy in proportion to its size as possible. The
stem of both this and the Marrow squash should stand at
quite an angle with the fruit, and have a depression
where it joins, as this indicates an early-ripened speci-
men. ‘The flesh should be hard, fine grained, and thick,
and not stringy on the inside. See to it that the squash
swells out to a fair degree in the middle, and hasan aver-
age proportion of seed. Having selected such specimens
as these, bring them to the final test of the dinner-table,
and reject every one that does not there show all the char-
acteristics of dryness, flavor, and fineness that belong to
a first-rate specimen.

I know that the injunction to select specimens that
swell out to a fair degree in the middle is contrary to the
course pursued by most farmers; yet I advise it on the
ground that such squashes, having a good quantity of
seed, have superior vitality and individuality, and being
nearer nature’s ideal of perfection in the animal and
vegetable kingdom, are better able to maintain the
species.

I have seen the working of this law most conspicu-
ously in the Crookneck family of squashes. The culti-
vator’s type of a fine market squash is one with as large a

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 71

neck and as small a seed end as possible. Following out
this idea, they select for seed, specimens with a small seed
end, and the result, as far as I have observed, has been
that the squash in the course of a few years has deterio-
rated and become worthlees.

When te Take Out the Seed.—We have advised
that the specimens for seed purposes be selected early
in the season, because later, particularly when they have
been exposed to a high degree of heat, the color be-
comes so changed that the work of selection becomes
far more difficult. The next question to discuss is,
when shall we seed them? Contrary to the generally
received opinion, the seed is not ripe when the squash is
—in other words, though the squash has completed its
growth, the vines dying naturally and the stem being
dead and hardened, yet the seeds do not fully mature
until some time after the squash is stored. The length
of time will vary with the season, it being longer in a
wet season and shorter in a dry one, the two extremes
being from one to three months. ‘Though seeds taken
out as soon as the squash is gathered, may at the
time present a very plump appearance, yet, if they are
examined after they are dry, a large proportion will be
found to be plump only on one side, most of them will be
twisted, and not a few of them entirely wanting in meat.
When seeding large lots for market, I have found the
percentage of loss in the weight of the seed quite an im-
portant matter, it being as high as one-fifth. After the
squash is gathered, the process of ripening the seed goes
on until the entrails are absorbed, or taken up by the
seeds, and the seeds continue to increase in plumpness and
weight until the entrails are so far consumed that only
so much remains as is necessary to hold together the seed
structure. This final ripeness is indicated by the seed
compartments in the squash becoming distinct, and the
attachments peeling off like the skin from an orange. If,

(2 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

when the squash is opened, the seeds are embedded in a
hard, dense mass of growth within, that does not readily
separate from the squash, they will be twice as hard to
clean, and when cleaned will weigh full twenty per cent.
short of the weight of well ripened seed.

The seed is cleaned from the refuse by being either
squeezed out or washed out. ‘The best way to clean seed on
a large scale is, to crowd it through very coarse sieves into
tubs, most of the entrails being left behind, caught in the
meshes of the sieves; then, putting it inte a revolving
churn with water, give it a thorough shaking up, and re-
moving it into sieves for draining, dash over some clean
water, after which spread it todry. If squeezed out, seed
will dry sooner, and when rubbed and winnowed when
dry will have a more velvety look than when washed ;
but to get such seed clean requires a good deal of work.
The best way is to trample on it while it is tied up in a
strong bag, and follow this by rubbing between the
hands and in a sieve, finishing with a careful hand pick-
ing. Where alarge quantity is to be handled, it is clean-
ed more quickly by washing than by squeezing out, but it
requires to be dried upon a comparatively clean surface,
whereas squeezed seed can be dried upon any surface,
no matter how dirty, as the refuse squash that remains
adhering to it effectually protects it from all injury.
Washed seed should not be spread more than one deep,
and squeezed seed not over one and a half deep; each
should be stirred after the second day. If washed seed is
stirred earlier, it is apt to be injured by the tearing of the
epidermis, which for the first day or two adheres strongly
to the surface on which itis spread. ‘The temperature for
drying seed should not be over about one hundred degrees,
and better less than more. Never dry seed in an oven,
or very neara stove. The upper shelf of a kitchen closet,
or a plate on the mantel-piece, not too near the stove
funnel, are each of them handy, though housewives will

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. ie

sometimes say they are not suitable places—if mice are
apt to gnaw the seed in the closet, or children to see
them on the mantel, for a certainty I will not dispute
them. When the quantity to be cleaned is small, the
sooner it is attended to, after the entrails have been re-
moved from the squash, the brighter the seed will look;
but if the quantity is large, by letting the mass stand one
or two days, until fermentation begins and the entrails
are partly decayed, the seed can be cleaned with far
greater expedition. Much care and some experience are
requisite to determine how far fermentation can be al-
lowed to advance. As a general rule, if, on thrusting
the hand into the middle of the mass, it feels milk warm,
it should be at once mixed well together and the whole be
washed out within six hours. The great danger in per-
mitting fermentation to advance too far, is in losing the
white, ivory-like epidermis of the seed, thus destroying
much of their beauty, and lowering their value for mar-
ket purposes. In washing the seed, the water used may
-be made about mill warm, and, as soon as they have been
squeezed out of the entrails, skim them off the surface,
dropping them into a sieve about as coarse as a common
coal sieve ; when this is nearly full, dash over them a
couple of buckets of water, giving them immediately a
quick shaking, which will tend to work out through the
meshes the fragments of entrails that were taken out
with them. If the hand is thrust into a mass of freshly
washed seed it will collect a good many pieces of the en-
trails. After pouring the water on the seed, incline the
sieve at a sharp angle, in order that it may drain off.
After they are well drained, pour them out on a large
piece of soft cotton cloth, and rub and roll them well, to
absorb as much of the moisture as possible. Then spread
‘ as above directed.
; When is Squash Seed Sufficiently Dry 2—It took me
B a couple of years to learn a very simple rule by which
4.

v4 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

this can be infallibly determined. Meanwhile I suffered
a great deal of anxiety, took a great deal of extra care (I
got out twenty-six hundred pounds of squash seed one
season), and yet after all had a feeling of uncertainty in
the premises. The ordinary way is to call squash seed
dry when the enveloping skin has separated from it,
and the seed itself is much contracted and also has a
dry look. If the temperature to which it has been ex-
posed is quite low, this is a pretty safe guide, but if
it has been dried at a somewhat high temperature—
though the seeds, when handled, may rustle with
a dry sound—if such seeds are packed in barrels they
will be very likely to sweat, and, when turned out,
come out in caked masses, and if left together soon
become musty. Squash seed, to be really dry, must
be so in the meat as well as in the shell, and this
can be in amoment determined by endeavoring to bend
them. If they are pliable, they are not yet sufficiently
dry ; if they snap instead of bending, they can be safely
stored for future use.

How long will Squash Seed keep its Vitality ?—
Squash seed is, like all other seed, best kept in a cool
place, where the air is dry and the temperature as even
as possible. Ihave found that those which were kept in
an open bag did not retain their vitality so long by a year,
as those vote were kept in the same bag, but placed in
paper packages.

I have known squash seed to be Hae good at six years
old, and again to be worthless when but three years old,
and with no perceptible difference in the getting out
and method of keeping. I would lay down the rule
to always test squash seed before planting, if it be
over two years old. This can be easily done by placing
a few in a cup, with water sufficient to swell them, cover-
ing them with some cotton wool, to prevent evaporation,

-

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. U5

and setting the cup near the stove or on the upper shelf
of a closet where the heat is gentle.

If the oil that enters into the composition of the meat
of the squash seed has become rancid, the vegetative
power of the seed is destroyed. This is easily determined
by breaking the seed, when the meat will be of dark
color, and have a rancid taste. Under such circum-
stances, the shell of the spoiled seed will usually be darker
colored than that of good seed. In a lot of seed saved at
the same time a portion will be spoiled, while the re-
mainder will readily vegetate, and some that to the eye
and taste appear to be perfectly sound, will prove to be
utterly worthless. The cause of the difference in either
case I do not know.

The proportion of seed and entrails of squashes to their
entire weight is less than is generally supposed. By tests,
applied towards the close of February, a few years ago, I
found that the weight of seed and entrails to the entire
squash, in the Turban, was as 65 to 1000; and, in the
Hubbard, as 55 to 1000. At that date the entrails had

less weight than they would have shown earlier in the

season.

76 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF SQUASH VINES.

It seems hardly fitting to close this treatise without
alluding to something higher than the mere pecuniary or
culinary value of the squash family. In common with
all vegetables, the vine has instincts which are both
curious and wonderful. How singular it is that roots
have power to push through the soil directly to the spot
where the best food is found, descending, if necessary,
below the plane of growth, or ascending above it to the
very surface and developing a perfect mist of rootlets to
catch up the decaying particles found under a small heap
of rubbish ! Still more wonderful are some of the instincts
of the vine itself. Hach tendril stretches out to fasten
itself to something by which it can support the vine, and
rarely, if ever, will it take hold of any but the best sup-
porter within reach. Yet more strange even than this is
the instinct these tendrils develop. ‘They not only reach
out for a support, and make selection of the object, but
they will vary the direction of their growth through quite
a number of degrees in pursuit of the particular object
they have selected. ‘To see this wonderful phenomenon
in its most striking aspect, select a vine of some one of
the mammoth varieties, under circumstances in which its
most vigorous growth will be developed. Let every stick,
weed, or the like, be removed from the vicinity of the
main runner, and then thrust firmly into the ground a
slip of shingle, not over half an inch wide, on one side of
the vine, a few inckes beyond the outstretched tendril
that is always found near the extremity, noting with care
at the same time the direction in which the extremity of
the vine points. Within twenty-four hours it will be
found that the vine has turned from its former course,
- towards the side on which the shingle is placed, while the

ee ee ee =
*: Sv * =

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. (u6

tendril has turned towards the shingle and perhaps found
and grasped it! In proof that this is no mere chance
event, let the slip of shingle be now removed, and placed
in the same relation to the vine as before, but on the
opposite side. Within twenty-four hours the vine will
_be found to have turned from its former course and to be
inclined towards the side on which the shingle is placed,
while the tendril on that side has shown a correspond-
ing movement. Then study the tendril. It is most
admirably adapted for its office; it is usually a compound
spiral, one-half of it winding to the right and the other
half of it to the left, thus combining the greatest strength
with the greatest possible elasticity. As another illustra-
tion of its wonderful instincts, I have seen a squash vine
run about ten feet along the surface of the ground, keep-
ing its extremity within a few inches of the surface, until
it passed under the projecting limb of a pear tree, which
was about four feet above the surface of the earth; here
it stretched up almost vertically towards the tree, until
it had almost reached it, when, not having sufficient
stamina to support it to a further effort, it fell over
towards the ground, forming an arch. It immediately
turned up with a second effort to reach the tree, made a
second failure and formed a second arch, and with still
another failure a third arch, by which time the extremity
had passed out from under the tree, when it kept on its
horizontal growth the same as before it had reached the
tree! Such instincts are wonderful. How did the vine
know the tree was above it, or that the slip of shingle was
at either the right or left of it ?

During the best growing weather the growth of the
vine is very rapid. I have found, by actual measurement,
that a vine of a mammoth variety grew above fourteen
inches in twenty-four hours. Sometimes, during a season
of drouth, a surprising tenacity of life is displayed. I
well remember one piece of vines growing on a shallow

%8 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC.

spot above a ledge, where, during a season of severe
drouth, I could find nothing but earth as dry as dust,
close down to the ledge ; yet these vines, for more than a
week, would wilt and apparently dry up each day, to
renew themselves with the dews over night. I have very
rarely (and I have often examined them for this,) found
the tendrils of the squash vine seizing on the Apple of
Peru (Strammonium,) alarge weed quite common near
the sea shore, of disagreeable odor and poisonous in its
nature, when taken internally. Now, the Apple of Peru
is very common in our squash fields, and presents the
most stable support of all the weeds of the field. Then
why this apparent antipathy ?

EVAPORATING, CANNING, AND COOKING
THE SQUASH.

Within a few years, a large business has been devel-
oped in the Hastern States in the evaporating and can-
ning of squashes. ‘These processes enable housewives to
bridge the interval between spring and fall, and bring
this fine vegetable to their tables in the form of pie all the
year. When carefully put up, the evaporated squash
makes as good a pie as when used fresh-gathered from the
vine. The extent of the canning business may be in-
ferred from the fact that when, in its infancy, I supplied
a Boston firm with thirty tons of squashes, from which
the seeds had been removed, to be used for this purpose,
they informed me that they had already used for canning
three hundred tons that season. A single suggestion,
drawn from personal experience, to those who may find a
market for their seeded squashes: When sending them by
railroad, unless the weather is below freezing, be sure and
have the door of the car open an inch or two, for squashes,
when seeded, are very apt to develop heat. A word about

SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 79

the cooking of the hard-shelled varieties. Do not attempt
to remove the shell, but, after breaking to a convenient
size, cook by steam, stead of boiling. In bringing it to
the table, the flesh is generally scraped from the shell,
but this is not the best way. ‘To preserve the fine grain
of the squash, and keep its dryness, bring it to the table
on the shell, and so serve it, with the shell as a natural
dish. We have oysters on the shell; and why not
squash ? The old saying that “the nearer the bone, the
sweéter the meat,” may or may not be true, but we know
from personal experience, dating from the time when we
could first handle a knife with safety, that the nearer the
shell, the finer, richer, and dryer is the squash.

I have endeavored to make my little treatise as com-
plete a manual as possible. If, from the directions
given, so delicious a vegetable as the squash shall be more
generally and more successfully cultivated, I shall be well
pleased.

eT OMENS SQMAS Divs o cais'm olecicio.s Sars o:<dinwe 5b aipcsio wera vi aidoiina og aotaetoe 18
SPA OS LOLS UASIVCS iz. » 5 \/oicls, sts nce sont ark a nine. oe yioncle de araataclan haps 12
Cookme the Squash: tet. siete ts Py ei Ri fe NSP eee 3 18
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BOSSI PSOE MVEATICUICS ote a nis scee sacs Shr oe tadien Seve cee need aia 26
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NORE AMIE Le De WANG t ais ck etic oo Shee cto cvoued Sie biplane lens Semis A aiurouned a me 63
BP OLA We OQ WAS Ms wis A tbve. ec acp ete: Wvous's «)a tunis, coe sisis.bi0) ove h oles 2,/Sleea tee 18
RURAL OMS MLAGM OS Ver Simla sta ote leldes 's\a)ajnetbatalstet ates «91d aste apelaloip tetra ee 41
MPEMINer SQUASHCS LO: LOC es «).s1. Halton Sole Poses sco kide seat oie es. ame 43
COB DELL CLS UASIES s-a-,tia. 15 sistaye sind biti) * Sua'e ela eie aco SeateGls dunes inj ersten Sie oe 40
CIEE EMER OL, 2852's os. 80e hase a tieltvort ey oe cc usisin o'pi nieualais shes sate yoo aE 5)
BOM CUS nyse Ora Ae Saye a te A Said Naa Natta tase don afb gl ake ara eutelnage- ae osetia ele roo 4
SpicIsee NIL CHE OL QUACK... 51s sp c.clersss s/s oles 0 Selo «1s Dake iprage sub sais ae eee st t
ACTA CMa SO TEASIN VINO in) hota ec, 50,75 torts a ocsiadl lo wivoloinie he pietyait Sists wigtela woes 76
Eee Creive, Vise CVELACUMUTE, . 2 < occi25 6 w<'sje\aie 0; ols orn o ptieo'e pear Abra 21
Millis How ar Apart? 22 sec ccs boat nee. oe cee A Pa ere ole oe 2 17
Ns cere pari oypile ss a2 Ao\s ot farsres'ausicle 6 a ctaisie'e cates ccoteis BOISE AE Bie Twi 16
PEOCHIC cet eee et okts oea een cee SRO SOF miei) aiol = ate ot sieipieialn ere 21
GSC TOT SQUASHED, 2.28 5 «cs ia*sss aes cle case een Ab Soribcs wn oeaieren eyeee 54
Insect Enemies.............0+ deer Seances. ahaa c’oialsipiolats/oiolsieista eo neare Oe
COTCUSITISIISH, <ciet ters stosteoe da Seen aiane Pen AOR Dad Gas ARABS odie 8 63
Galeruca vittata....... Bee Rat MES Sieetaie ne oeeitels Serpe Pot bhiog 63
Squash-bug.......... a bAbroe erate eiaia\a\istnladnle/loin\ etal alola = aka(oinle ate tote ae 66
Squash-maggot........ Aeon ct oe A 5 wia/wipiale-cte oe! e\sin\eifa\sle’sl'un claistalel tele re 67
Biriped-DUe: <.c5. 2... wee epee aialei cj aipialara ani ani oieliet oteta!'s/ spt ph aya aa iate eae 63-
PePMaN pS aL NANTES has tsa o's pial is o'e sloiaie diajese mote asiioh na Aaa Bhi. de siete 66
MICE Ol SOMASI VINES. » cso sein & aie cae o6v ete s.caiganviceicsre ree Pee 76
Introduction: ../...... ie ingeiien se lo Sha sib S Siva wale lo, Bea cherie oe lovaketsL eat 3
Land, Marking Out........ Be deate ote ais/a ius alate aia ote Sele tent as one epee 14
Manure; “Apply oot... 5 Asics Ar BDO 2 SOpnoncn BEA Aes A Rhee pet ard 12
ARE TOU MALL AOMOM. K4 olv alt > > s\s\5 o\Sm cia: aiot os DaNeietele atetn ste eosin asia Siete ot oles 3 %
RT SANTI EA TIC sions othe os vive: ovo 0\ elei0.acoie'd.e soln oie 6:« Rees, Ara re tancs 9
(81)

82 INDEX.

Manure, SP rFepaninG. es occ nc ss see oi ewe ee ews ae a eee Seecu a Sdocesaaes 12
Markebine the Cropac.oe soc. ss - <u Rowe pee ec ome ce Naas ciamiasoue Eoeeee 38
Werke Price Of Squashes.-..< oss ssiescs, -eia wove seine os eee eee eee 40
Mrich CowssSquashes tor... 2... <0 cs: sae. new Cesc e ceee sees aa eoeeeree ss
NEINS- OF ISQUASNES, eis «cles cco can Sah ee ee aoe ie emp ee 26
gE SRA GS ete oo ci Sa Sais Seco omits clades ate wis cic oecins s tieiwte miele wertore eternal 68
INT SOP Coe cross co swe Si eee Wan ise wan cio ww heeiieie eee ae ee eee 8
Pisswguashes as f OO SOU.. fo cscs < oo sles cee oo as Cee coe eee ee 44
PNCHIMEAEHOY VINES: ce ot). cs anes wees ook amiclis win aeca ee Way ein ee ee ieee 29
PASTAS Sed DOS Se aes Aan eer iden Sere ene ee RR AOA SG 19
EM PKs: ANG OGUASNCS <0 cc 6\.c ee ce aes Scie one emia Semen Wee ace =
PREL@K EO PASS Sais Sos at nis cccara ois <a ens ale ww nin aeioe cle m miemiclaetes Ntiere e ere 7
Roots—How Far they Run........... RG oR Se Sos cesee oak Ses sscase 13
ebNAHIO” SCO Ao Sne Sc dw os eeeivae He ein «kar cen she nes cee eee Ree 69
MECEHSO TOANITN Gs nen csi Saale sels eins weia a 6 oii a clninceee eeeeee 72.
‘¢ How Long will they Heep? Boag Sui Sis wind She Pde Uke eh we eels Bere 74

Pe ELT SESS Ho gE eI ey Aric Sees G sac ics 5 5 19
SoA VER OTHE. Coa Scie See ac aoe ce eee Slee vere siecle ae ene eS 69

Ste WRNeR ATG hey. DEY, 25e:c5 a sins oie mine ota « oat me Sees ace ree eee 73

Sou When. to Fake OUb.. co.cc cic. tele conch wee nice aes el ee eee 71
BebiNO dhe UPI. c-2 -- cnet oon ob een a de cee on ee eee ee ee ee 20
Nod-land: tor Squashesé. sos. sac | Sco oh oe ne sen Seecinee ene eee 6
Sailor SGUISNES £2 o o2s cas Sgctec tc cece aw eh ae cee ence eee 5
Seasbs Cann ines. cic os Js vcneetmn nce aces cee nee ee 78
Soe OOOkINne S22 Sh oN ie col won Meme eee es heme eee 78

SS) HEUVAPOLAGIN EG. -c.cs.05 wcne one Seige eR Renee wooo eee eer reer 78
SUES) 7 By Ee ae ee eR Pe eA Rt nn reer a Gian Sa S- ot
Squash, Whatisa? ...... ABU e ic OM irae thos oS Sam asl Reet Se eee 4
ene, PECHOMEANOY. mace ae ace seek iin oe Sa ec ee ee 41
for Milch COWS. =. <2 jose = eBGeoh. . Sad dee eEe ohm eR eee 44

se FOR PICS Saks soe concise ance os o8e.s Se SOE eee 44

S FOU LOCK: Soke Sa in gees Case nsec be bese ete eee ..-43

ne Mrost-DHten [So eec sce wesc coats ee ae ae eee ee ee 40

ef Gath erine: ooke SOUS os Se pane tse sv eae nee eae 29

“ Marketine.. cc. ss +2 enone ee eenn eee ee ee 38

e Market Priee OF sc. 20. ccee oct sea nee ee ee eee 40

ce Reipenine. = ose oe oie ee ane eee ee eee 29

= SEOLINES So ats so es hee cays dao nla Cees mee ae ee ee 33

sf Winter Gare Of: 6255-3 ca oa ee a ee ee eee ene 36

¢ wath other Crops. oo0 ce soe ee sien am eee me toe 24

¢ Mariehies: oboe 255. a. one nee aoe eee eames oe selec eee 45
Storing Squashes...........2-.-eeeeeeeeceee sees ns cee Sa eee 35
Summer Varieties of Squashes........c0.-- ee ee ee ee cece ee cecees Baad fe
sRwstel-GPrass so.2. >. Jsde se case ese Gees a= sn lent eo Stvom ele meio fs
Wariehies Crossine or Mixtnt.6.2 2 oo2s = ses cnet Wee 20s caer eee 26
SO SS SHIMICE anne cs ws Wislen nie ne tains Seer ne ssh n 2s 5 =o eee 61

Rea UAViber ss oi. % fc ce, See a ce oe ae ee eee 45

es a

INDEX. 93

Varieties......... SHEP pe Mate ie! Geol eeetayareie Sitis, siete vacelonane eeetaen ear e 45
Te UH CMICATMEUNDAN, onc tee sont Wr Wiis, Sak k saree aa 48
ce ALUMInGE Marrow... «co.cc Doese.. os. Die larekeeleiarer Sevan eee 50
c Bergen, Green-striped....:...J4...... ais oink sy Stosatel tia opeueeterserae 62
oe Boston: Marrow $2.25 56s ccn e. pele olsiece ecreitrort yen eR 50
ae JBL 03 22 he SCY eel eR DR a dean 8 SBCaR Son OaseE SSPE AOE bas 54
Ee Campmdoee Narrow ae. soe ee eee Sieie!ejebal ete: sbaverahel arene 50
ae Can aga Crockueelcx ays. sie einen oe aotey 1), Si ae 57
Ct WAS DAW ot eas peeves eltip eo a alare se ene OL ek eae oe ee ds 59
cc SISO EUSA AS ecle as abhi a a er diy UE ge ral RAN Bi 59
= MEO ORME CBs Hs. aces Mice eaeh ggot aRe eae Be gto ea 56
es Cxrgoneck. Canada -ct.jc2) 2 wetmene oe. eas eae 57
66 oe RPL OT oso > in cole eh Meeeraie aot, eRe, ERR 61
6 (OOO pe Sei ec te SARI ene ee Saat Nemes eal f OISOR cEps Wy 61
ae ACUSEAU Ce. Seterore o cre! nicsat. arene saeco na a eee pe ee en 63
eis Biss exc Ey Diuoletyaial tas ale io sare cconiajct eal hoo coe ee tee pee ea pe 55
<e LENS O(C)s OAR Dba 0/7 Ce cate pare Naar eine erated ae is Vr ou 1s. 48
Ss Green-sttived “Bergen ss co 2.2 ss sale oo oe en a San 62
oe EMO ANG erapere ses ete «ites Se vse Sesto heise ne ae oa 45
ec Barae Ny tater Crookneck <5 Sns sh. okie bce sone Renae 66
ee Mare ead: sa. 3 cnc celslatewradsle soos wees s oom Whe et. ie Ee 52
ae WVEATTOWreaRcciews, x olaiheate ott\ 18 cai GB late ek REC Ao RO 5
ae Middle tom Elites Ney etn he ora na Coan ey el ave 47
< Bares Or ROM na ae Sa ss dcthe bids hick Re os ope he ae Lae ee 58
‘s STB PIU sci c al rie eee atore AE cia atnte Sie Sate nA ue cya ea 61
oe erieeh Gers one felis sisi. ken alecte aes aoc eee ee 60
&e 1 {OI cea Rey ea ee esl PURE let cei SOM pate Ia Pees Vin SUR Mie 58
< Summren CroOkMe Ck. .7e ae aais tom oes ces ae Oe: 61
bs WMeretaule Maro wir: 2G c5 o6c 23 30 adel wile wa soe Seal, ee 62
a WIL eIBUSHUS COMO Pisin ve cose waco sake ya gil} ation suited 61
oo VAGIOLNC HITE SA APO BAe en ay Pea ine ere: ram eee Maren eee eins 75 57
Wares OU iE LUNCe AMAanhereon tviorc tee fc ate Mal clas Ske a eg ae VG
PT MSIAICES AUC TADIES OL. Ay, /5k'S 5 fond = 6 sisere ies hoe eke a ee 76
epee MACHINE Ob pyc aats' se srayaisise, vsatedsr staal te Metavanta e o Listt acts ah Se een ee 29
NVC CUS yiietons ee bielas an. ti arcroniee s.cate vigtin Maas sino Ook tine Gent ee anes 7
MancernCate Of SQUASHED: 3205 Pic Sie. cals Saw eten Gece Se ee 36
Munk Cr Vanietics OL SQUASHESS sis “so>e toe rs eee n Wen eee 45
“TE Sis BS pee ee AIR Sa RTs ean ote esd a Seid Tete ae ee 7
NMOOU ABER: mt. oss cc be eimers ous wal oob ok aa vaia pee tare ove taya he octane eee ees 8
WAP CVU CINUCIES 2s ce olcow'e's 0's ox > ve e'e c deielelciniarsa:die'e stad slate altatanretanee aint pa eee 68

NEW AMERICAN FARM B00On.

ORIGINALLY BY

2a Pe

ALLEN,

AUTHOR OF ‘' DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS,’? AND FORMERLY EDITOR OF
2
THE ‘* AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST.”

REVISED AND ENLARGED BY
LEWIis EF. ALLEN,

AUTHOR OF ** AMERICAN CATTLE,”? EDITOR OF THE ‘‘ AMERICAN SHORT-HOR .
HERD BOOK,” ETC.

CO NCEE NSE SS:

IntTRopucTION. — Tillage Husbandry
—Grazing — Feeding — Breeding —
Planting, etc.

CuaptTeR I.—Soils— Classification—
Description — Management — Pro-
perties.

Cuapter Il.—Inorganic Manures—
Mineral — Stone — Earth — Phos-
phatic.

CHAPTER III.— Organic Manures —
Their Composition— Animal—Ye-
getable.

CuHapTerR I[V.—Irrigation and Drain-

ing.

CuaPreR V.—Mechanical Divisions
of Soils — Spading — Plowing—In-
plements.

CuapreR VI.—The-Grasses—Clovers
— Meadows — Pastures — Compara-
tive Values of Grasses—Implements
for their Cultivation.

CuarTesR VII.—Grain, and its Culti-
vation — Varieties — Growth—Har-
vesting.

CHAPTER VIII.—Leguminous Plants
—The Pea—Bean — English Field
Bean—Tare or Yetch—Cultivation
—Harvesting.

Cuaprer 1X.—Roots and Esculents—
Varieties—Growth — Cultivation —
Securing the Crops—Uses—Nutri-
tive Equivalents of Different Kinds
of Forage.

Caaprer X.—Fruits—Apples—Cider
—Vinegar—Pears—Quinces—Plums
Peaches — Apricots — Nectarines —
Smaller Fruits—Planting—Cultiva-
tion—Gatherine—Preserving.

CHaPreR XI.—Miscellaneous Objects
of Cultivation, aside from the Or-
dinary Farm Crops—Broom-corn—
Flax—Cotton—Hemp—Sugar Cane
Sorghum—Maple Sugar —Tobacco—
Indigo—Madder—W ood—Sumach—
eal — Mustard — Hops — Castor

ean.

CHAPTER XII.—Aids and Objects of
Agriculture — Rotation of Crops,
and their Eifects—-W eeds—Restora-

tion of Worn-out Soils—Fertilizing
Barren Lands—Utility of Birds—
Fences —Hedges— Farm Roads—
Shade Trees—Wood Lands—Time
of Cutting Timber— Tools—Agri-

_ cultural Education of the Farmer.

CuarTeR XIII.—Farm Buildings—
House — Barn—Sheds — Cisterns —
Various other Outbuildings—Steam-
ing Apparatus.

CHAPTER XIV.—Domestic Animals
—Breeding—Anatomy—Respiration
—Consumption of Food.

CHAPTER XV.—Neat or Horned Catile
Devons — Herefords—Ayreshires —
Galloways — Short - horns — Alfer-
neys or Jerseys—Dutch or Hol vin
—Management from Birth to Milk-
ing, Labor, or Slaughter. ;

CHAPTER XVI.—The Dairy—Milk—
Butter—Cheese—Different Kinds—
Manner of Working.

CHAPTER XVII.— Sheep — Merino—
Saxon—South Down—The Long-
wooled Breeds—Cotswold—Linco
— Breeding — Management — Shep-
herd Dogs.

CHAPTER XVIII. —The Horse—De-
scription cf Different Breeds—Their
Various Uses—Breeding—Manage-
ment.

CHAPTER XIX.—The Ass—Mule—
Comparative Labor of Working
Animals.

CHAPTER XX. — Swine — Different
Breeds — Breeding— Rearing — Fat-
tening—Curing Pork and Ham”

CuapTteR XXI.—Poultry—Hen 2
Barn-door Fowls — Turkey — ea-
cock—Guinea Hen—Goose— Duck
—Honey Bees. _ -

CHAPTER XXII. — Diseases of Ani-
mals— What Authority Shall We
Adopt ? — Sheep — Swine — Tyrat-
ment and Breeding of Horses.

CHAPTER XXIII.—Conclusion—Gene- ~
ral Remarks — The Farmer who
Lives by his Occupation—The Ama-
teur Farmer—Sundry Useful Tables.

SENT POST-PAID, PRICE $2.50.
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,

751 Broadway, New-York.

: Keeping One Cow.

Being the Experience of a Number of Practical Writers, in a Clear
and Condensed Form, upon the

MANAGEMENT OF A SINCLE MILCH COW.

Illustrated with Full Page Engravings of the most Famous Dairy Cows.

NOTICES BY THE PRESS.

Designed to show the utility of every family (where it is at all practicable)
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Eview.

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The volume. of convenient size. is attractively made with a number of illustra-
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Home Par --The Evening Mail, New York.

The Vol ime is edited by Col. Mason C. Weld, and Prof. Manly Miles,
authorities on dairy matters. Soils. crops, stables, care of manure, soiling,
care of cow and calf, and every conceivable point connected with the subject,
are treated of undera score of different circumstances, and bring to the reader
a variety of methods from which to select.—Standard, New Bedford, Mass.

Composed of contributions from fifteen or sixteen writers on po’nts con-
nected with the subject. seiected from nearly 100 papers submitted for the pur-
pose....The work is illustrated with a number of portraits of famous dairy
cows of different breeds. and some other engravings of buildings, etc.—Cul#t-
vator and Country Gentleman, Albany, N. Y.

This book represents the individual experiences and advice of acknowl-
edged authorities. and is designed to show that every family shouid have its
own cow. The list of contributors to it embraces Mr. Henry E. Alvord, of
Massachneetts; Prof. D. D. Slade. of Harvard College; Mr. P. S. Norris. of
New York: Mr. Geo. G. Duffie. of Alabama; and otber writers of prominence.
Mr. Orange Judd adds a chapter from his individual experience. — Indiana
Farmer, Indianapolis, Ind.

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together the most recent information, from various sources.
Edited by DR. CEORCE THURBER.

Dr. Thurber’s eminent reputation as a horticulturist and agriculturist must
secure a wide sale for this volume among farmers, who are now so actively
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Fully Dlustrated. PRICE, POST-PAID, 50 CENTS.

ORANCE JUDD CO., 751 Broadway, N. Y.

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