PUMPKIN. 87 



PUMPKIN. 

 CITROUILLE ou PoTiRON. Gucurbita pepo. 



VARIETIES. 



Finest Cheese, or Family. 1 Connecticut Field. 



Mammoth, or Spanish. j White Bell 



THIS plant is highly deserving of cultivation, particularly 

 in new settlements ; the large sorts are profitable for cattle, 

 as some of the mammoth tribe have been known to weigh 

 upward of two hundred pounds each ; the other kinds are 

 also very productive, and may be raised on any waste land, 

 provided it will admit of digging small spots, of the dimen- 

 sions of one or two feet, every ten or twelve feet, for the 

 hills, and the residue of the ground be unencumbered for 

 the plants to run on. They are generally raised, on culti- 

 vated farms, between hills of Indian Corn, and may be 

 planted in the garden or open field, in May and June, in hills 

 eight or ten feet apart, with three or four seed in each hill. 



One quart of Field Pumpkin seed will plant from five to 

 six hundred hills. An ounce of the finer kinds will plant from 

 fifty to eighty hills. 



Pumpkins are not so tenacious of a particular soil as either 

 Melons or Cucumbers, but in other respects are cultivated in 

 the same manner, only that in raising them on a large scale 

 the ground may be prepared with a plough, and afterward, 

 as the weeds advance, the plough and harrow may be used 

 between the plants until they begin to run, which will save 

 much labour. 



The finest quality of Pumpkins are known to make good 

 pies, and may also, after being boiled, be worked up with 

 wheaten flour into bread, for which purpose they are fully 

 equal to Indian meal. The knowledge of this fact may prove 

 advantageous to farmers living at a distance from cities, as 

 they may find a market for their grain or meal readier than 

 for their Pumpkins. 



