SQU 



spring, but in general in tlic autumn, 

 immediately after harvesting the corn 

 crops. One light ploughing is suffi- 

 cient, and as the grain is very small, 

 it is but very lightly covered. About 

 twenty-four pounds of seed to the 

 acre is the usual quantity. Its growth 

 is so rapid that m five or six weeks 

 it acquires its full height, wliich sel- 

 dom exceeds twelve or fourteen inch- 

 es. The crop is of course a light 

 one, hut is considered of great value, 

 both as supplying a certam quantum 

 of provender at very little cost, and 

 as being the best food for milch cows 

 to improve the quality of the butter. 

 It lasts till the frost sets in, and is 

 usually fed off by milch cows tether- 

 ed on it, but is sometimes cut and 

 carried to the stalls. 



Where spurry is sown in spring, 

 the crop is occasionally made into 

 hay ; but from the watery nature of 

 the plant, it shrinks very much in 

 bulk, and, upon the whole, is much 

 more advantageously consumed in 

 the other manner. It is indigenous 

 in Flanders ; and, except when culti- 

 vated, is looked on as a weed, as in 

 this country. 



Von Thaer considers it the most 

 nutritious herb of any, but the crop 

 is too small. Crome makes the fresh 

 plants to consist of water, 710; 

 starch, sugar, and gum, 7 5 ; albu- 

 men, 2 3 ; woody fibre, 120 percent. 



SQUAMA. A scale : rudimentary 

 scale, like leaves or other parts of 

 a plant. Squamous is scaly, or scale- 

 like. 



SQUARROUS. Ragged in appear- 

 ance. 



SQUASH. Cucurbita melopepa is 

 the simbling or round squash ; C. 

 vcrruccsa, whavty squash ; the vege- 

 table marrow, C. succado. Varieties : 

 Early orange, early bush scollop, 

 green-striped bush, early crookneck, 

 large cushaw, vegetable or autumn 

 marrow, Canada or winter crook- 

 neck, Lima cocoanut, acorn or Cal- 

 ifornia, and Valparaiso. Of these, 

 the early orange and autumn marrow 

 are best for the table ; the Valparai- 

 so, which sometimes becomes up- 

 ward of 100 lbs. weight, is also ex- 

 246 



STA 



cellcnt for the table and a crop. The 

 Canada or winter crookneck keeps 

 well through winter, and is good for 

 a crop for cattle. The culture is the 

 same as for the cucumber and melon, 

 the hills being from six to ten feet, 

 according to the variety. They should 

 be well aired and dry before being 

 put away for winter, and should be 

 placed on straw or shelves, and not 

 allowed to press on each other. 



SQU.-\SH BUG. Coreus tristis. 

 See Cur.nmher. 



SQUEAKERS. Pigeons under six 

 months old. 



SQUILL. The genus Sctlla. Bul- 

 bous plants with handsome flowers 

 like the hyacinth. The root of S. 

 maritima, a native of the sandy shores 

 of the Mediterranean, is an excellent 

 medicine in diseases of the throat 

 and chest ; it is also diuretic. 



STABLE. The building in which 

 horses are lodged. It should be well 

 ventilated and often cleaned, the 

 urine and dung being collected into a 

 suitable tank, or charcoal and gyp- 

 sum should be spread on the floor to 

 catch the urine and improve the air. 

 The following account of stable man- 

 agement is from the •' British Hus- 

 bandry ;" 



" Notwithstanding that the cost of 

 horses forms a prominent item in the 

 farmer's outlay, there is frequently 

 no part of his live-stock, nor any 

 branch of his business, either so ill 

 understood or so much neglected as 

 stable management. Let any one look 

 into the low-roofed, narrow, dark, and 

 unstalled building in which teams are 

 often huddled together in some of the 

 old homesteads, and the fumes arising 

 from stagnant urine lying upon the 

 uneven pavement, as well as from 

 accumulated heaps of fermenting lit- 

 ter, and he must be convinced that it 

 is a place as noxious to health as the 

 cobwebbed rafters, the unwhitewash- 

 ed walls, and the confusion of the 

 harness and utensils, show it to be 

 devoid of neatness and order. Let 

 him examine the horses, and he will 

 find that, although perhaps sleek from 

 good feeding, their coats are foul and 

 their heels greasy. Instead of ex- 



