4 THE SOUTH AFRICAN PIPE CALABASH. 



The price now charged by dealers for the pipes is, however, no indi- 

 cation of what American manufacturers would pay for the gourd necks 

 out of which thej^ are made. Importers at present secure these necks 

 at prices ranging from 25 cents to $2 a dozen. When it is realized 

 that only. well-formed gourds, free from blemishes, are marketable at 

 any price, it becomes apparent that the growing of these gourds on a 

 commercial scale does not promise any large profit. It is not, there- 

 fore, with the idea of presenting to the farmers of the country a new 

 and lucrative industry that the successful cultivation of the South 

 African pipe gourd in this country is briefly described in these pages, 

 but rather to call attention to an attractive vine which anyone can 

 grow in his dooryard and from the gourds of which a light and attract- 

 ive pipe can be made, even by those unaccustomed to the use of tools. 



THE CALABASH PIPE GOURD IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



The American consul-general in C'ape Town, Mr. H. L. Washington, 

 sent a few seeds of this interesting plant to the Department of Agri- 

 culture in December, 1906, and with them a short account of the 

 origin and growth of this peculiar pipe industry. According to Mr. 

 Washington the use of the calabash as a pipe bowl was discovered by 

 the Boers and after the Boer war the fashion of using these pipes 

 was introduced into England, whence it has reached this country. 

 Knowing that so long as seeds were not sent out of the country 

 they might hope to hold the cultme as a monopoty, it is reported 

 that the Boers tried to prevent the exportation of seed; but, as has 

 been the history of all such things, sooner or later a few seeds were 

 exported and to-day there are in America enough seeds to produce 

 all the gourds that it would be possible to market in this country. 



When the small cpiantit}'^ of seeds of this gourd, secured for the 

 Department, were first sent out, it was not thought that the vine 

 would produce fruit over a wide range of territory, but it has been 

 found that from New England to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific it yields the characteristic fruits from which the pipes are 

 made. The vines are very luxuriant growers. In the vicinity of 

 Washington, D. C, four of the broad-leaved runners early in the 

 season covered a 6-foot trellis 25 feet long and climbed to a height of 

 20 feet over some half-grown cedars near by, where they produced 

 dozens of the long, slender-necked fruits. 



CULTURE OF THE VINE. 



The vine forms a very satisfactory cover for unsightly brush heaps 

 or fences, though its rather rank odor might prove objectionable if 

 used for an arbor too near the dwelling. 



To grow the vine for the sake of its gourds is where the chief 

 interest lies, however, and to do this well it should not be trained on 



[Cir. 41] 



