58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



winds as they pass. Now that a mode is devised 

 for pulling flax by machinery, and of preparing it 

 to be wrought in cotton mills, it will become an 

 important crop in New England. The old imple- 

 ments mentioned above will once more hold up 

 their heads, and their cheerful clatter again ani- 

 mate the waning February afternoons. 



Poultry. — Keep two or three kinds of grain be- 

 fore them, cob-meal mixed with hot water, once a 

 day, occasionally meat, scraps, or lard mixed with 

 meal, plenty of pounded bones, oyster-shells, mor- 

 tar, and a warm sunny place, and they will not 

 only pay you for the outlay, but a handsome prof- 

 it. During the severely cold weather of the three 

 months just past we have had a most abundant 

 supply of eggs for family use, and some sixty doz- 

 en for market, from 30 hens. 



The above are but a few hints — the systematic 

 farmer will have all things "squared away" for 

 spring business, as the good seaman has his ship 

 for action. Starting a little ahead of his work in 

 the spring he will drive it before him all the busy 

 season ; finding time to attend to each crop at the 

 moment when it most needs his attention. Thus 

 he will have a ready hand, and cheerful heart, 

 with plenty of opportunities for intellectual enjoy- 

 ment and for adding his portion to the amenities 

 of life. And all this is especially h is farm work 

 for February. 



For the New England Farmer. 



PUMPKINS— SQUASHES. 



Mr. Editor : — Having received from Dr. T. W. 

 Harris, of Cambridge, a gentleman so well known 

 for his indefatigable researches into the arcana of 

 nature, a most interesting letter upon the different 

 varieties of the squash and pumpkins cultivated 

 in our region, and believing that this useful as 

 well as laborious investigation would be as inter- 

 esting to many of your readers as it was to myself, 

 I have ventured to forward it for the Farmer. 

 From this investigation, many as well as myself 

 will lie inclined to adopt the same conclusions he 

 has arrived at, particularly in regard to the au- 

 tumnal marrow and Valparaiso squashes, that from 

 the readiness with which these two varieties mix 

 anil hybridize, there is a close and natural affini- 

 ty. Yours, truly, 



Salem, Jan. 6, 1852. Jonx M. Ives. 



Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 29, 1851. 

 John M. Ives, Esq. : — Dear Sir, — Mr. Proctor, 

 of Danvers, has favored me with your letter con- 

 cerning the marrow squash, first brought into no- 

 tice by yourself in 1835, and now acknowledged to 

 be the best variety in cultivation. In the course 

 of a correspondence with Mr. Proctor, I mentioned 

 my desire to obtain an authentic specimen of the 

 old Valparaiso squash, introduced by Com. Porter, 

 between 30 and 40 years ago. 1 wished to com- 

 pare it with one grown in my garden this summer. 

 Si'.iee then, however, I have been assured by sev- 

 eral persons, professing to know the true Porter 

 Valparaiso squash, that my squash was the same, 

 as indeed I had supposed it was from the recollec- 



tion I retained of the former as seen some 15 to 20 

 years ago. Accident led me to look into the his- 

 tory of plants of this kind during the last two 

 years. A notion prevailed among botanists that 

 they all came from the East, Asia and India being 

 indicated in modern botanical works as their na- 

 tive region. A laborious investigation of ancient 

 Greek and Latin authors, an investigation of the 

 accounts given by Arabian physicians, and by Rab- 

 binical writers, together with early voyages and 

 travels in the East, — have satisfied me that what 

 we call pumpkins and squashes were unknown to 

 the ancients, and that they did not begin to be 

 km >wn in Europe until after the discovery of Amer- 

 ica ; that the West Indies, Florida, Mexico, Bra- 

 zil, Peru and Chili, all furnish various kinds, which 

 were introduced into Europe by the first discover- 

 ers and settlers of the new world ; that these were 

 soon spread by commerce throughout Europe, and 

 even to the East, by Spanish, Portuguese, and 

 Dutch navigators. The pumpkin had already 

 reached England, and was cultivated before the 

 English got new varieties of fruits of this kind 

 from Virginia and New England, the Dutch from 

 New York, the Swedes from New Jersey and Del- 

 aware, and the French from Canada. 



Wherever these fruits were carried, whether to 

 England, continental Europe, Greece, the East 

 Indies, even to Auiboyna, the Phillippine Islands, 

 and China, they retained the names imposed on 

 them hi the languages of those who introduced 

 them. Hence, in the East Indies, their names alone 

 (not known in the vernacular of the country) show 

 them to have been of foreign origin. According 

 to their shape and color, pumpkins and squashes 

 were likened to gourds (calabashes) melons, or cu- 

 cumbers, and subsequently took the same names 

 as these fruits bore in the European countries 

 where they were cultivated. Thus the Spaniards 

 had only one name both for calabash and pump- 

 kin, namely, Calabasa. In the greater part of 

 Europe, however, they took the same name as had 

 been previously applied to the muskmelon — pe- 

 pone in Greek; poponein Italian, pompon in French, 

 pumpor in Swedish and pompoen in Dutch, whence 

 came pompion and finally pumpkin in English. 

 The latter knew nothing of our name squash, be- 

 fore the settlement of New England. The earli- 

 est English writer who used it as we do, was Ro- 

 bert Boyle, who died in 1691. Before his day, 

 pumpkins and squashes were called by the former 

 name only. The result of the historical investi- 

 gation was — that these fruits were not of Asiatic, 

 but exclusively of American origin. 



My next step was to study the botanical char- 

 acters of the various kinds of pumpkins and squash- 

 es. And for this purpose, during the past two 

 summers, I have raised several varieties in my own 

 little garden, and have also examined all others 

 that I could find in my vicinity — viewing them 

 carefully in the growing state, and dissecting the 

 (lowers and young fruit. I have now come to the 

 conclusion that they are divisible into three natur- 

 al groups. 1. The summer squashes, or gourd- 

 si|uashes, — having at maturity a hard rind, and a 

 dry, spongy, whitish pulp, with small, thin seeds. 

 It is not necessary to say anything more of tins 

 division here. 2d division, — represented by the 

 common field pumpkin, crook-necked squash, &c., 

 — has large rough leaves, more or less deeply 

 lobed, — a 5-furrowed (sometimes 10-furroweil,) 



