VEGETABLES. 425 



guished from other green varieties, with which it is sometimes 

 coiifoxmded, by its thick shell, which in pure specimens cannot 

 be cut with a knife. This best of table squashes will always 

 have the sj^lendid orange color of the marrow to contend against, 

 but if the public vote be in accordance with the old proverb, 

 that " handsome is that handsome does," it will certainly super- 

 sede it as a table squash. 



There were several good specimens of the custard or " Cali- 

 fornia" squash on exhibition — long, flesh-colored, in shape like 

 a pumpkin. This squash is generally inferior for the table, but 

 as a pie squash, with its peculiar and excellent flavor, is consid- 

 ered by many of tlie first quality. In some locations it is an 

 enormous bearer, yielding as high as fourteen tons to the acre. 

 As a pie squash, we consider it a valuable acquisition. 



Among the new products on exhibition, whose place in our 

 agriculture is yet to be determined, we noticed the Japan pea, 

 Chinese sugar cane, and Chinese potato. The first two of these 

 have been widely distributed through the patent office. Erom 

 specimens raised this season, we note, that the Japan pea is of 

 small size, and the pod contains two or three peas ; it is a great 

 bearer, the pods hanging in clusters at the footstalk of each leaf, 

 from three to seven in a cluster, and numbering as many as 

 ninety on a single stalk. From a slight knowledge of its quality, 

 we consider it of superior flavor, much like the Lima bean. It 

 appears to require no sticking, being but little of a runner, and 

 having a good deal of fibre in its stalk. In its habits of growth 

 it reminds one of a mongrel between the bush and pole bean. 

 Who will favor the public with the results of careful experi- 

 ments, to determine the value of this and the Oregon pea, 

 (provided this latter can be raised, wi3 have not succeeded,) for 

 fodder ? We remember that Dr. J. Y. C. Smith, in his " Travels 

 in Egypt," states that the fine Arabian horses are fed mostly on 

 a mixture of chopped straw and beans, a small quantity of each. 

 We have not at this moment the work by us to give a literal 

 extract, but if through many generations the finest race of horses 

 in the world has held its own on such food as this, there must cer- 

 tainly be great value in it, and the question naturally arises, why 

 might not this be as good food for the horses of other countries ? 

 Is there any thing in our climate, or the use to which the ani- 

 mal is here put, which forbids the same food ? The prolific habits 

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