SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 29 



and then stories of great crops will be heard of in the 

 squash districts. When a young H ibbard squash is mak- 

 ing a fine growth, it will have a shining green appearance, 

 as though just varnished, If the appearance of the squash 

 changes to a dull green color, the days of that squash are 

 numbered ; it will soon shrivel and decay. 



PINCHING VINES. 



I have seen a vine perfect the growth of a squash 20 Ibs. 

 in weight, though the vine was cut off within a foot of 

 the squash when it had reached the size of an orange, and 

 another squash of about the same size was also matured 

 on the same vine, about four feet nearer the root. The 

 vine was highly manured, and grew on very deep and 

 rather moist muck and loam. I can not yet determine the 

 laws which govern the art of pruning vines. I have had 

 some, the young squashes of which appeared to do finely 

 after the extremities of the runners were nipped at near 

 the close of the season, and others, where the young 

 squashes turned yellow and died, under, seemingly, pre- 

 cisely the same circumstance. I am inclined to think, 

 that it is not well to pinch off the ends of the vines be; 

 fore the young squashes have attained to the size of a 

 large orange. How far a crop of squashes might be in- 

 creased by the nipping of the vines, or a pruning of the 

 roots, is a problem yet to be settled. The use of the 

 cultivator just before the vines spread, must do much 

 in the way of root-pruning the vines. 



THE RIPENING AND GATHERING OF THE 

 CROP. 



In seasons, in which the early part of summer is cold, 

 farmers sometimes get almost discouraged with the small 

 number of squashes that set, and the slow growth of such 



