SQUASH AND MELON CULTURE. 17 



Varieties. 

 i. summer squashes. 



Summer CrooTcnecJc. This is very early, productive, and of fine 

 flavor, and is tlie standard for an early kind. 



Yelloiv, and Wliite Bush Scalloped. These two varieties are 

 alike, excepting in color, and are early, scallop-shaped varie- 

 ties. They are extensively cultivated at the south, for shipping 

 north. In New England they are not as popular as the Summer 

 Crookneck. 



II. FALL AND EARLY WINTER SQUASHES. 



The American Turban stands at the head of this class. It is the 

 largest and most productive squash I know, excepting the mam- 

 moth varieties, which I do not consider much better than the pump- 

 kin. Some specimens are as sweet and dry as the Hubbard, and 

 the flesh is usually finer grained and of a better color, being of a 

 bright orange, and free from green streaks. It is not as uniform 

 in quality as some kinds, some specimens being light colored, insipid 

 and watery, l3ut when you get a good one you have a superior table 

 squash. 



They are a soft-skinned varietj', of 3'ellow color, in fonn some- 

 what like a peck measure, with a pecuhar acorn-shaped mark at the 

 cal^'x. In some specimens this acorn is quite prominent, standing 

 out boldl}' from the squash. In selecting seed of this variet}', I 

 have alwa3S discarded those in which the acorn stood out very 

 much, yet I would have the mark quite distinct, but not veiy prom- 

 inent. 



Cocoa-nut Squash. This is an excellent little squash. It is 

 very prolific and grows somewhat in clusters, but the fniit is so 

 small — about the size of a cocoa-nut — that the weight of the 

 crop is quite hght. It is the handsomest of all the squashes, being 

 spotted all over — one end bright yellow and orange, the other dark 

 and light green, the division between green and yellow being even 

 and straight around the squash, giving it the appearance of parts 

 of two different colored squashes joined together. The flesh is fine 

 grained, sweet, and very diy, and of excellent flavor. It is too 

 small for general cultivation, but for small families, which cannot use 

 the whole of a large squash at once, it is more desu-able than if it 

 were larger. 

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