38 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 



ter of 1866-7 will be a memorable one among the squash 

 men of Massachusetts. Squashes being remarkably plenty 

 and cheap in the fall, every squash-house in the vicinity of 

 Boston was filled to overflowing. As the season advanced, 

 squashes began to show a remarkable tendency to rot, and 

 the result was that, in many cases, as large a proportion 

 as four-fifths of the crop rotted before spring opened. The 

 summer previous had been unusually wet and cold. 



If apples, squashes, or any other fruits are gathered 

 ripe, the next step is to decay ; but if they are not fully 

 ripe, they have this intermediate step to take before de- 

 caying. Heat is an agent in promoting progress in each 

 of these steps ; hence, the less heat above a freezing temper- 

 ature in which squashes can be kept, other conditions 

 being equal, the longer they will keep. 



The very small squashes which are usually given to stock 

 as soon as gathered, are among the very best for keeping, 

 provided they are stored in the warmest part of the build- 

 ing. Late in spring they are salable at a high figure for 

 cooking purposes. Out of about five hundred pounds of 

 such squashes stored so near my salamander that the 

 outer tier cooked with the heat, I found but about ten 

 pounds of defective squash when I overhauled them 

 for the first time, near April. Squashes planted about the 

 first of June will usually keep better than those planted 

 earlier, on the same principle that the Roxbury Russet, 

 and Baldwin, keep better than the Porter, or Sweet Bough 

 apple, the former not being ripe when gathered from the 

 tree. The order in nature is that fruit should ripen before 

 it decays. 



MARKETING THE CROP. 



Squashes are sold by the piece, by the pound, and by 

 the barrel. Sales by the piece are unknown in the Eastern 

 States, as far as my knowledge extends. In the markets 

 of New England, after the summer squashes, of which 



