98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



blaze. Friction matches had not then been sent 

 from the regions of brimstone, to enable any boy 

 or b^eggar to carry a conflagration in his pocket." 



Par tlie New Enoland Farmer. 



THE HUBBARD SaUASH, AHD SaUASH 

 BOEEE. 



Mr. Editor : — You were certainly very unfortu- 

 nate with the Hubbard squash ; but not more so 

 than a friend, who, from a piece of land which in 

 1854 yielded nearly twelve hundred weight of this 

 variety, obtained this year but about a dozen 

 pounds. But the failure of the marrow was with 

 us, on the peninsular portion of this town, equally 

 striking ; a farmer who planted about half an acre 

 to the marrow, within eight or ten rods of the 

 piece above mentioned, offered the crop, as I am 

 informed, to any one who would gather it — the 

 yield being almost nothing. 



Between the 10th and 20th of June I planted 

 about three-fourths of an acre to squashes, planting 

 the Hubbard, marrow and custard side by side, 

 four-ninths of the piece to Hubbard, three-ninths to 

 marrow, and the remainder to the custard. After 

 the hugs had taken their quantum, enough were 

 left under on an average season to fairly cover the 

 ground. About the time of blossoming the squash 

 borer commenced his inroads, and made sad havoc 

 among the Hubbard and marrow, and a few hills of 

 the custard that were planted in low ground. When 

 the crop was ready for gathering several remarked 

 that the two patches of Hubbard had suffered less 

 from the borer than the marrow, though in each 

 case they grew side by side, one patch of each in 

 the upland and one in the lowland. On weighing 

 the two crops the difference was as striking, the 

 yield of both patches of the Hubbard, ripe and 

 unripe, being abqut thirteen hundred and fifty 

 pounds, while the marrow yielded, ripe and unripe, 

 but eight hundred and fifty pounds. 



A single result does not establish a fact in agri- 

 culture, but this yield, under circumstances equally 

 favorable, certainly tends to show that the Hubbard 

 is, at the least, as hardy as the marrow squash. 



I therefore infer, Mr. Editor, that your fortune 

 was a "sport of the season," and with great pleas- 

 ure forward a few seed, that you may try again, 

 but with this condition, that you shall not hold me 

 responsible for the "sport" that may be developed 

 next year, should the product of any of them be a 

 custardo-marrow-Hubbard squash, as owing to the 

 failure of the few hills from which I expected to 

 obtain my pure seed, I am obliged to send seed ta- 

 ken from squashes which grew in the field above 

 mentioned. 



As both 8ex?3 appear in the flowers on one 

 squash vine, the tall male flower first, and after- 

 wards the pistillate, or female, I infer, and believe 

 that facts are with me, that the only result of fruc- 

 tification from neighboring plants would be to pro- 

 duce mongrels. 



A word more about the squash borer, which, OW' 

 ing perhaps to the wet weather, appeared in such 

 numbers and made such unexampled ravages dur- 

 ing the past season. One gentleman stated that 

 if they were carefully cut out as soon as iletected 

 the vine would heal and thrive. I tried this on 

 several vines, in some cases tying the slit roughly 

 together, and in others covering the opening with 



earth, but in general, without satisfactory results, 

 owing perhaps, as I afterwards thought, to our not 

 having taken all the borers from the vines. In 

 most of the cases the sides of the slit rounded over, 

 and there was evidently an effort at liealing, while 

 the vine would recover some of iis vigor. Two 

 vines were carefully examined with reference to 

 the number of borers in each ; in one eight were 

 found, and in the other thirteen, having entered at 

 the foot-stalk of the leaves, within a range of six 

 feet from where the vine starts from the ground, 

 and more particularly from within six inches of the 

 hard, dense part of the stalk, just at the surface. — 

 In the latter instance they were detected at a glance 

 by the great swelling of this portion, which I pre- 

 sume, is an effort of nature to supply new channels 

 for the flow of the impeded sap. 



Now I am fully persuaded from the quantity of 

 slitting usually necessary to extract one borer, that 

 to destroy as many as were found in the above 

 vines, or half as many, would be the death of the 

 vine, as the knife will travel a little to the right or 

 left, even with the steadiest of hands guiding, not 

 to consider the time spent in the operation. 



A friend informs me that he has killed them in 

 the vine by syringing on the outside a solution of 

 whale oil soap and water, continuing this for some 

 little time. The next morning, as he states, he 

 usually found the animal dead within the vine. It 

 is my impression that his preparations were one 

 pound of soap to four gallons of water. Has any 

 of your correspondents found this or any other 

 means efficacious ? 



The squash crop on the peninsular portion of this 

 town during the past season was almost an entire 

 failure, owing principally to the ravages of this hid- 

 den enemy, and he has thus become quite a nota- 

 ble among us. Can you, Mr. Editor, or any of 

 your able correspondents, hel]) us storm his citadel ? 

 J. J. H. Gregory. 



Marblehead, Dec. 24, 1856. 



The Trees of America. — Another number of 

 this highly-finished work has just been published 

 by the author, R. U. Piper. The frontispiece 

 represents an ash forest in Maine, and alone, is 

 worth the price of the work. The other plates are 

 the Charter Oak, at Hartford, the Elm, on Boston 

 Common, and the Winchester Pine, on the estate 

 of the Hon. F. O. Prince, at Winchester, Mass. 

 The letter press is large and clear, and on fine, 

 white paper. The work is a credit to all engaged 

 in making it. For sale at Saxton's, 81 Washing- 

 ton Street. 



Plough, Loom and Anvil. — We miss the sug- 

 gestive and pleasant old eover of this sterling jour- 

 nal. Why do you shake off this time-honored old 

 friend ? The inside is like a well-ripened nut, rich 

 and nutritious. 



Tucker's Rural Register for 1857. — Fifteen 

 thousand copies of this popular hand-bock have 

 already been sold, and the first edition completely 

 exhausted. A second edition is now ready. Price 

 25 cents. 



