26 BOARD OF AGPJCULTURE. 



what the reason was. They said I planted them too early, -— 

 I should not have planted them before the 20th. I want 

 to see if I can't get it down to the 1st of July. 



Capt. Moore. I lost my early ones ; but, from some planted 

 late, I got a good crop. There are two kinds of maggot that 

 attack the squash, and it is very hard* to get rid of them. 

 One is a small white maggot that eats the roots : you pull 

 up a plant where they are at work, and you will find that 

 they have riddled the bottom roots. ' The other is a maggot 

 about half an inch long, and as large round, perhaps, as a 

 pipe-stem. It generally commences on the stem, at the sur- 

 face of the ground, and eats up the stem two or three feet. 

 I think that maggot comes out of the ground. Some people 

 have got the hang of them so that they can go along with a 

 penknife, and take them out without injuring the squash, if 

 they do it in season. Where the roots are destroyed, the 

 plant will in many cases, if the ground is rich, strike out 

 roots from the joints. I have seen good crops of squashes 

 grown where the original roots were all gone. I would not,, 

 however, suggest cutting off the original roots for the pur- 

 pose of securing a crop. That is the way we account for 

 squash-vines running ten feet sometimes, and then turning 

 yellow, and dying. It is usually owing to one or the other 

 of these maggots. I do not know the habits of the miller 

 or fly that deposits the eggs, well enough to describe them. 



Mr. Flint. Dr. Fisher will talk on that special subject. 



Mr. Hadwen (of Worcester). Capt. Moore introduced 

 one subject in which I was very much interested, and, I 

 have no doubt, many other farmers ; and that is, in relation 

 to growing pure seed. I would like to have the captain en- 

 large upon that subject a little, and would inquire if he has 

 grown any other seeds but corn on scientific principles, or 

 any princij^les which will give value to the seed, and give 

 value to the plant. 



Capt. Moore. I have experimented somewhat with vari- 

 ous kinds of seeds. I grow my own onion-seed, and for that 

 I select my onions myself. It will not do to trust that to one 

 of your men. You must have a pattern in your own mind 

 of exactl}'- what you want, and you cannot describe it to a 

 man. You may give him an onion, and tell him that is a 

 specimen of the kind you want, and he cannot get one just 



