New Jerfey, Raccoon. 347 



fuch as planes, handles to chifels, &c. but 

 if after being cut down, it lies expofed to 

 funfhine and rain, it is the firft wood which 

 rots, and in a year's time there is nothing 

 left but what is ufelefs. When the perfi- 

 mon trees get once into a field, they are 

 not eafily got out of it again, as they fpread 

 fo much. I was told, that if you cut off 

 a branch and put it into the ground, it 

 ftrikes root, but in very ftrong winters, 

 thefe trees often die by froft, and they, to- 

 gether with the peach trees, bear cold the 

 leaft of any. 



November the 23d. Several kinds of 

 gourds and melons are cultivated here : 

 they have partly been originally cultivated 

 by the Indians, and partly brought over by 

 Europeans. Of the gourds there was a kind 

 which were crooked at the end, and oblong 

 in general, and therefore they were called 

 crooked necks (Crocknacks;) they keep al- 

 moft all winter. There is yet another fpe- 

 cies of gourds which have the fame quality : 

 others again are cut in pieces or flips, drawn 

 upon thread and dried j they keep all the 

 year long, and are then boiled or ftewed. 

 All forts of gourds are prepared for eating 

 in different manners, as is likewife cufto- 

 mary in Sweden. Many farmers have a 

 whole field of gourds. 



Squashes 



