No. 85.] 453 



SQUASHES. 



Elizabethtovmy JV. J., Jan. 22dj 1845. 



At the last Fair of the American Institute, I exhibited two squash- 

 es. The seed were given me by an acquaintance, who procured them 

 at Patagonia while on a whaling voyage. The seeds, six or eight in 

 number, were planted a year ago last spring — only one came up, that 

 bore four squashes. I saved the seed of the largest, and last spring 

 I planted six hills, from which I obtained thirty squashes. The two 

 largest were the ones I exhibited at the Fair. The one weighed thirty- 

 seven pounds and the other twenty-nine pounds. Having last spring 

 changed my place of residence, it was late before my garden was prepar- 

 ed — the seeds were notjplanted until the first week in May, in a soil such 

 as is common to the gardens in this neighbrohood, and without being 

 manured. I have been told by practical gardeners, that were the 

 seed planted earlier, and in a stronger soil, they would have attained 

 double the size. I observed there were none others like them at the Fair, 

 and I am inclined to believe there are few, if any others, like them in this 

 section of the country. Those gentlemen who have used them, are 

 of the opinion that they are superior to any other squash, either for 

 pies, or as a table vegetable. They keep well in winter. 



Very respectfully, 

 (Signed) WILLIAM BROWN. 



ONIONS. 



At the late Fair of the American Institute I exhibited a sample of 

 white onions, the average weight of which were nineteen ounces — one 

 weighed twenty-four ounces. 



In the spring of 1844, I sowed the seed in drills about one inch 

 deep, and twelve inches apart, in the month of April. The soil was 

 reclaimed bog, or meadow, which was ditched and drained a few 

 years ago. It was manured with horse dung, and some of the up- 

 land soil with a small poition of lime. If they had had a little more 

 attention paid them, I think they would have grown much lajger. 

 In cultivating them, I used a fork and spade instead of a hoe, and 

 when they began to form, I took a little stick and removed the dirt 

 from around them. They were ripe early in September. 



(Signed) ANTHONY COCKS. 



Goshen, JV. F., JYov. 10th, 1844. 



RED ONIONS. 



An account of a crop"of red onions raised on ten rods of ground, by 

 David Jagger, of Runhead, Suffolk county, L. I. 



The soil was a reclaimed swamp having sand carted on to the 

 depth of from six to eight inches — has been under cultivation eight 

 or ten years. Was planted to corn the two previous years, yielding 

 about sixty bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 



