r)S 



THE FLORAL WOELD A>"D GARDEN GUIDE. 



are starved in the seedling state is 

 lamentable, and it is against this 

 practice we would wage war most 

 anxiously, A luxurious growth is 

 essential from the first, and this 

 should be insured by using a turfy 

 compost, plenty of water, occasional 

 stopping to prevent the plants from 

 getting unmanageable by their size, 

 and regular shifts up to seven-inch 

 pots, if room can be afforded, so that 

 thev may be put out late, and suffer 

 no check by ungenial weather. Then 

 for the further management, plenty 

 of liquid manure alternating with 

 plain waterings, and where size of 

 fruit is an object, only one or two 

 should be allowed to come to matu- 

 rity. The summer of 1862 was very 

 unfavourable to the growth of mar- 

 rows, and in our district there was a 

 general complaint of failure. We 

 had two plantations, one away from 

 home, on a piece of land rented as 

 supplementary to the home garden, 

 and another which had our daily at- 

 tention. The plants for both were of 

 the same batch, and there was no 

 difference in their strength when put 

 out. Those on the land away from 

 home were ridged out on beds with 

 two feet of rotten dung and a foot 

 depth of soil ; those at home were in 

 a range of open brick pits, and the 

 beds made in the same way. In these 

 the plants were turned out, one in the 

 centre of each compartment, eight j 

 feet by nine feet (the breadth of two j 

 lights) at the end of April, when i 

 the weather was like June. The I 

 plants were sheltered with a small | 

 box-frame, four feet by two feet, from i 

 which the lights were removed all j 

 day. They made a free growth, and 

 by the time they had grown so large 

 that the frames had to be removed, 

 they were showing fruit abundantly, 

 and we cut fruit from them the 

 second week in June, when the 

 plants in the other plantation were 

 looking starved, and were evidently 

 not worth the ground they occupied. 

 We had enormous crops from our 

 home plantation, but the other gave 

 very few marrows worth cutting. 

 Our home crop afforded a lesson to 

 many gardeners of the district, and ! 



we name it here as a lesson for our 

 readers, that what is worth doing is 

 j in this case worth doing well. In the 

 I selection of gourds many of the most 

 ' ornamental are also most useful. 

 I For size, the mammoth gourds 

 claim pre-eminence, and it is on re- 

 cord that a weight of 250 lbs. avoir- 

 dupois has been attained on the Con- 

 tinent, but we cannot hope for such 

 results. The large Yellow Mammoth 

 is a very handsome gourd, and it re- 

 quires only a moderate amount of 

 skill to grow a few fruits to the 

 weight of 80 or 90 lbs. The Citron- 

 elle, or Citron Gourd, is a valuable 

 one for winter use, as when ripe a 

 fine preserve may be made of the 

 flesh. It is a variety of the hard- 

 fleshed water-melon, and the fruits 

 average from three to five pounds in 

 weight. It requires a little more 

 care in cultivation than most other 

 gourds in the early part of the 

 season, as, being of a tender consti- 

 tution, it is apt to suffer from damp 

 and cold if planted out too early ; 

 but after the middle of June its 

 growth is vigorous, and it requires no 

 more care than ridge cucumbers. 

 When ripe it does not change colour 

 or become soft, and it keeps well. 

 Another very useful gourd is the 

 Hubbard Table Squash, which ave- 

 rages seven pounds in weight, and 

 yields a large crop, if allowed plenty 

 of room to ramble over a mound of 

 dung covered with eighteen inches of 

 turfy loam. When ripe, the flesh is 

 of a deep orange colour, and it may 

 be used as a vegetable in soups, or 

 for pies or preserves. For general 

 usefulness the common pumpkin, 

 white marrow, and custard marrow, 

 are the most useful of all esculent 

 gourds. The fruitfulness of the cus- 

 tard gourd, when fairly dealt with, 

 is amazing, and nothing can equal it 

 on the table either for beauty or 

 flavour. But it is not so early as the 

 common green pumpkin and common 

 white marrow, and a few plants of 

 each should be grown, as the marrows 

 take the lead in the early part of the 

 season, and the custards come into 

 full bearing when the others are be- 

 ginning to decline. 



