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THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



in the case of Stowell's Evergreen, and a few days later for Crosby. We 

 have sown early varieties as late as July 15, and they have yielded an 

 abundant supply of crops when frost held off late. In the way of early 

 varieties, First Crop Sugar, Golden Bantam, Early Cory, and Peep-o-day, 

 are all good. In medium earlies we have Golden Dawn, an excellent 

 yellow variety of fine flavor, and the always reliable Crosby; Potter's 

 Excelsior is another sort of excellent flavor; of late varieties, Stowell's 

 Evergreen produces the largest cobs, and they are very tender and sweet, 

 but Country Gentleman, an irregular eared variety, has a very delicate 

 flavor. 



The weather should be warm and settled before squashes are planted, 

 and the soil for them must be well manured. Summer Crookneck and 

 Bush Scallop are good early varieties. Orange Marrow is a superior fall 

 variety, and Hubbard is the standard winter sort. Golden Hubbard is also 

 good, as are the Delicious and Marblehead, the latter keeping very late. 

 It is always well to sow a good number of seed in a hill to avoid probable 

 destruction of many by insects. For the small black fly, dust the foHage 

 with lime, soot, or ashes, while they are damp. It is also a good plan to 

 sow a few radish seeds in each hill; the insects seem to eat these with 

 avidity and spare the squashes; the same dusting will keep away the striped 

 squash bug, but several applications may be necessary. The squash vine 

 borer is a very destructive pest; very thorough cultivation before planting 

 will kill many of these grubs, which Hve in the soil, and work their way 

 into the stalks of the plants. Sometimes before the shoots are too wilted, 

 the stems can be slit, the borer discovered and destroyed, the cut part 

 covered in the soil, and the shoot regenerated; when badly wilted, it is 

 best to pull up and bury the stem. 



Vegetable Marrows are easily grown, and are very free fruiting squashes, 

 being especially good for summer and fall use, also for preserving. The 

 borers rarely attack this variety, nor do they trouble pumpkins very much ; 

 of these latter. Sugar and Nantucket are splendid varieties for pies. To 

 secure pumpkins of the largest size, which are more curious than useful, 

 dig a large hole and fill it with manure, reduce the plants to one in each 

 hill, and thin out the shoots, also pinch back the long laterals, and allow 

 only one fruit to a plant. The variety Mammoth is the best to grow for 

 this purpose; very large pumpkins can be grown in this way. 



The culture of cucumbers is similar to that of squashes, and an early 

 crop can be secured in a frame, or plants may be started in pots and 

 planted out in hills, early in June. The Arlington White Spine is a good 

 variety. Melons are not really vegetables at all, but are served only as 

 dessert fruit. They are, however, always catalogued with vegetables, and 

 may therefore be fairly spoken of here. During the past few years these, 

 thanks to warm summers, have done extraordinarily well. Early batches 

 can be started in pots or under small hand lights; a sheet of glass 16 by 

 24 inches over each hill will advance the crop quite a little; these glasses 

 should be removed when rain falls, closed on cold nights, and tilted 



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