280 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



to ovary; petals commonly united; stamens usually three, 

 of which one has a one-celled and the others two-celled 

 anthers, but commonly the anthers are much twisted and 

 often all combined into a head, and the filaments are 

 sometimes grown into a column. The fruit is unusually 

 fleshy and the seed is flat and made up entirely of embryo. 

 It is commonly believed that some of the species in this 

 group readily cross, but if it occurs at all it is but rarely, 

 and squash and pumpkins have never been successfully 

 crossed with melons. Besides the squash, pumpkin, musk- 

 melon, waterjnelon, and cucumbers, whose cultural direc- 

 tions are here given, there occur in this family the gourd 

 and the wild cucumbers of the gardens. 



SQUASH (Cucurbita) 



The term squash does not signify any botanical division, 

 but is an American name that is applied to a large number 

 of varieties of gourds which in common parlance have 

 come to be classified separately. The term often includes 

 what are sometimes called pumpkins. 



The term gourd is applied to all the members of Cucur- 

 bita pepo and includes the Scallop and Crookneck squashes, 

 field pumpkins, and the small, very hard-shelled fruits 

 of many shapes and colors borne on slender vines that 

 are grown chiefly as curiosities under the name of gourds. 

 The latter are what are commonly known as gourds. 



Pollenizing the Flowers. The flowers resemble those of 

 the cucumber and melon, being separate on the same vine. 

 The pistillate flower is produced at the end of the miniature 

 squash; the staminate flower is often called the "false 

 blossom," and its office is to produce pollen only. They 

 are naturally pollinized by insects. 



