THE SOUTH AFRICAN PIPE CALABASH. 5 



a trellis, but allowed to trail over the (ground. The reason for this 

 was discovered the past summer, with plants growing on a 6-foot 

 wire fence. The young fruits were repeatedly tied up in the effort 

 to make their necks crook properly, but as they grew older and 

 heavier they slipped their nooses of cheese cloth or twine and before 

 the season closed had straightened out into long, clublike specimens, 

 worthless for pipe making. If the fruits are allowed to lie on the 

 ground tiiej^ form their crooked necks quite naturally without assist- 

 ance, and while not all of them by any means make suitable necks 

 for pipes a good proportion do. It seems to induce a more perfect 

 neck to stand the gourds up wdien half grown so that they rest on 

 their big ends. Unless care is exercised in doing this the necks snap 

 off, for they are extremely brittle even when fully grown. It is only 

 when almost mature that they become hard and then they are indeed 

 almost unbreakable. 



Much could doubtless be done to perfect the methods of culture, 

 insuring perhaps a greater percentage of properly crooked necks and 

 more perfect surfaces. It could not be seen that inheritance plays 

 any material part in this matter of percentage of crooks. If left to 

 themselves the majority will crook their necks, but some few will 

 remain quite straight, and this on the same vine with perfectly 

 formed crooks. 



The plants will thrive in any rich garden soil, the richer the better. 

 Beds of well-rotted manure and mellow loam should be made, as for 

 cucumbers or melons and at the same season, and the seeds planted 

 much as though thej^ w^ere melon seeds, about an inch deep. It will 

 not pay in the latitude of Washington, D. C, to plant first in a hot- 

 bed or cold frame and then transplant, but farther north this may 

 lengthen the fruiting season somewhat, provided the transiplanting 

 is very carefulty done. The growth of the 3^oung plants when once 

 checked will be slow, and seeds planted outside will produce plants 

 that will overtake them in their growth. 



The calabash gourd vine is a good bearer. Four vigorous vines 

 grown in Maryland in 1908 pn duced about 75 gourds. But it must 

 not be thought that all of the gourds will be fit for })ipe bowls, unless 

 each fruit is found while the neck is still pliable and so tied that it 

 forms the proper curve. Among the large leaves the finding of the 

 very young gourds requires much searching and at frequent intervals. 



1 he gourds should be left as long as possible on the vines to thor- 

 oughly thicken their shells. If picked green the shell will be no 

 thicker tlian stiff cardboard and in drying it is very liable to crack. 

 Frost will injure the gourds if they are left on the vines too long. 



DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES. 



It will be an unpleasant surprise when the crop has been harvested 

 1(1 how few of t 



9927-Cir. 41—09- 



to find how few of the gourd necks which in the field seemed eligible 



