292 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



to corn. In addition to the crop harvested 

 there is a change of diet assured, which is 

 so much needed during the long winter 

 months, and the animals will always show 

 their appreciation by taking on fat. But 

 the squash requires good soil and careful 

 cultivation to make satisfactory returns on 

 the investment and insure the ripening of 

 fruits before frost. If more care was 

 given soil preparation and vine cultivation 

 the value of the squash crop would be 

 much enhanced. 



My method of planting is to prepare the 

 ground, furrow out the rows about four 

 feet apart, run water through them and 

 plant in kills, after putting in a shovelful 

 of rotted manure. The plants are tender 

 and very susceptible to cold and wet, 

 and hence the seed must be planted late 

 in the spring in soil that will never become 

 too wet. A slight skimming of the top of 

 the ground with a hoe, to kill out weeds, 

 is all that is necessary until the vines be- 

 gin to form, when plowing near the hills 

 is valuable. If irrigated before the blos- 

 soms appear, the water should merely be 

 run through and turned off, as early irri- 

 gation certainly curtails the product. The 

 vines will run thirty feet or more and 

 throw up an immense foliage, which will 

 destroy the crop if not prevented. The 

 only method of stopping this growth is to 

 top the main vines and prune back the 

 branches. 



The topping and pruning should be 

 done with a sharp knife or long shears. 

 An old pair of sheep shears is a splendid 

 topping and pruning tool. When the 

 vines have extended three feet or a little 

 more either way and fruit has begun to 

 set, the topping ought to begin and be 

 kept up vigorously, as new shoots form 

 during the season. I have harvested 

 from six to tan good squash of the ^Hub- 

 bard, Essex. Hybrid and othei varieties 

 from a pruned vine, when those left to run 

 wild only bore two or three perfect speci- 



mens. After the pruning is complete it is 

 well to cut off all late fruits and give the 

 early, well developed specimens a chance 

 to make all the vines will produce. By 

 this method the yield can be more than 

 doubled, and the farmer who tries the ex- 

 periment will always plant a patch to 

 squash. JOEL SHOMAKER. 



THE TODDY TREE 



Nature has her rum shops, her saloons. 

 She produces plants which devote them- 

 selves to the manufacture and sale of in- 

 toxicants. The South American toddy 

 tree is well known to naturalists. It is 

 well known also to the South American 

 beetle, the Oryctes Hercules. When the 

 latter goes on a spree, he never goes it 

 alone, after the unneighborly habit of the 

 human drunkard. He collects his friends 

 and acquaintances to the number of thirty 

 or forty ; the whole crowd run their short 

 horns through the bark of the toddy tree, 

 i m evel in the outflowing juices, and, while 

 inebriated, are easily caught by the human 

 natives. The toddy tree parts with its 

 liquor free of charge. There are other 

 plants which are less generous. They ex- 

 act no less a penalty than the death of the 

 unfortunate drunkard And what do they 

 do with the body? Strange as it may 

 seem, they eat it. In this manner they ob- 

 tain the food which nourishes them and 

 sustains their healthful existence. 



At the end of their long green leaves 

 these plants have a pitcher shaped recep- 

 tacle. We might style this the growler; 

 but it never needs to be rushed. It is 

 always full of what with special appro- 

 priateness might be called bug juice a 

 watery liquor, sweet to the taste and in- 

 ebriating to the senses. Only in fine 

 weather is the growler open for business. 

 On rainy days it is firmly shut up to keep 

 out the rain that would dilute and spoil 

 the contents. Nature's saloon keepers do 

 not water their stock. Lippincotft, 



