SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 61 



apples containing arsenic, rolled into their burrows, are 

 among those that have proved successful. It is worth 

 while to offer five dollars for the skin of a woodchuck that 

 has commenced depredations in a squash field. 



SAYING SEED. 



In selecting squashes for stock seed, take, while the 

 squashes are in the field, or immediately after they are 

 gathered, neither the largest nor the smallest specimens. 

 The largest specimens are very tempting, particularly so 

 if they have the true form, appear to be well ripened, and, 

 if Hubbards, have a hard shell ; but experience has proved 

 that these, as a class, are most likely to be of impure 

 blood. About a year ago two of my neighbors, who had 

 become famous for their large Hubbard squashes, came to 

 me to get a new stock of seed to start from ; they stated 

 that within a few years a large proportion of their squashes 

 grew soft-shelled. Now, as they had made it a rule to se- 

 lect the largest specimens for seed, I have no doubt but 

 that the admixture that was evident, from the loss of the 

 hard shell characteristic of the true Hubbard, had crept in 

 that way. Every old squash grower is aware of the great 

 change that has come over the Autumnal Marrow squash. 

 When introduced, it was of small size, weighing about five 

 or six pounds, exceedingly dry, fine grained, and rich 

 flavored. Now its quality is uncertain, for the most part 

 greatly deteriorated below the original standard, but it 

 grows to double the average size of the original squash. I 

 have not the slightest doubt but this deterioration is due 

 to the vicious practice of saving seed stock from the largest 

 specimens grown, these specimens having got their extra 

 size from larger and coarser varieties of the African or 

 South American type. If any one has doubts of this theory, 

 he can easily satisfy himself by examining the calyx end of 

 a crop of the. largest sized variety of Marrow squashes, 



