three to eleven pounds in weight. Several generations of self-pollinated 

 plants must be grown to establish a desirable new variety that may be 

 sufficiently early to mature even in the 100-day season of northern New 

 Hampshire. 



Baby Butternut Squash 



Among the many varieties of winter squashes, Butternut is the only variety 

 belonging to the species. Cucurhita moschata, which has become popular. 

 This popularity has been in part due to the convenient shape and good table 

 quality that has appealed to the consumers. To some people, the flavor 

 becomes less desirable when the variety is eaten repeatedly. Growers have 

 liked Butternut because the plants are naturally resistant to the destructive 

 black pumpkin bug. though the productive vines are rather late in maturing 

 their crop in much of New Hampshire. A weakness of the variety is that 

 the fruits are markedly variable in shape. Both normal and undesirable 

 slim and/or crookneck fruits are produced on the same plant. 



The development of a new variety. Butternut (upper left) was crossed with 

 Tsurukubi (upper right), a Japanese variety. At center is the first cross between 

 them, and the four at the bottom are the result, the new Baby Butternut. 



An oriental variety from Korea of somewhat similar type to the Butter- 

 nut, but having a long neck, called Tsurukubi (Japanese for Heron's neck), 

 was found to have dry, sweet, yellow flesh when cooked. Reciprocal crosses 

 were made between Butternut and Tsurukubi. In the second generation, all 

 plants that failed to blossom earlier than Butternut in the field were elimi- 

 nated. Only those left were self-pollinated. After harvesting those selfed 

 squashes of desirable size and shape, each squash was cooked and judged 

 for table quality — a regular procedure carried on through all generations 



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