2jz November 1748* 



dried ; they keep all the year long, and are then 

 boiled or ftewed. All forts of gourds are prepar- 

 ed for eating in different manners, as is likewife 

 cuftomary in Sweden. Many farmers have a 

 whole field of gourds. 



SQUASHES are a kind of gourds, which the 

 Europeans got from the Indians, and I have al- 

 ready mentioned them before. They are eaten 

 boiled, either with flefh or by themfelves. In 

 the firft cafe, they are put on the edge of the difli 

 round .the meat ; they require little care, for in- 

 to whatever ground they are fown, they grow m 

 it and fucceed well. If the feed is put into the 

 fields in autumn, it brings fquafhes next ipring, 

 though during winter it has fuffered from froit, 

 fnow, and wet. 



THE Calabajhes are likewife gourds, which are 

 planted in quantities by the Swedes and other in- 

 habitants, but they are not fit for eating, and are 

 made ufe of for making all forts of veffels ; they 

 are more tender than the fquaflies, for they do 

 not always ripen here, and only when the weather 

 is very warm. In order to make veffels of them, 

 they are firft dried well ; the feeds, together with 

 the pulpy and fpungy matter in which they lie, 

 are afterwards taken out and thrown away j the 

 (hells are fcraped very clean within, and then great 

 fpoons or ladles, funnels, bowls, difhes, and the 

 like, may be made of them : they are particularly 

 fit for keeping feeds of plants in, which are to 

 be fent over fea, for they keep their power of ve- 

 getating much longer, if they be put in calabafh- 

 es, than by any other means. Some people 

 fcrnpe the outfide of the calabafhes before they 



arc 



