SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 67 



applied towards the close of February, a few years ago, I 

 found that the weight of seed and entrails to the entire 

 squash, in the Turban, was as 65 to 1000 ; and, in the Hub- 

 bard, as 55 to 1000. At that date the entrails had less 

 weight than they would ho,ve shown earlier in the season. 



INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF SQUASH VINES. 



It seems hardly fitting to close this treatise without 

 alluding to something higher than the mere pecuniary or 

 culinary value of the squash family. In common with all 

 the vegetable world, it has instincts which are both 

 curious and wonderful. How singular it is that roots have 

 power to push through the soil directly to the spot where 

 the best food is found, descending, if necessary, below the 

 plane of growth, or ascending above it to the very surface 

 and developing a perfect mist of rootlets to catch up the 

 decaying particles found under a small heap of rubbish ! 

 Still more wonderful are some of the instincts of the vine 

 itself. Each tendril stretches out to catch hold of, and fasten 

 to something by which it can support the vine, and rarely, 

 if ever, will it make the mistake of catching hold of any 

 but the best supporter within reach. Yet more and higher 

 even than this is the instinct they develop. They not only 

 reach out for a support, and make selection of the object to 

 which to cling, but they will vary the direction of their 

 growth through quite a number of degrees in pursuit of 

 the particular object they have selected. To see this 

 wonderful phenomenon in its most striking aspect, select a 

 vine of some one of the mammoth varieties, under cir- 

 cumstances in which its most vigorous growth will be 

 developed. Let every stick, weed, or the like, be removed 

 from the vicinity of the main runner, and then thrust firmly 

 into the ground a slip of shingle, not over half an inch 

 wide, on one side of the vine, a few inches beyond the out- 

 stretched tendril that is alwavs found near the extremity, 



