SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 13 



ground, the entire mass should be thrown over with forks,* 

 and thoroughly commingled, all coarse lumps broken 

 up, and all frozen lumps brought to the outside of the 

 pile. As soon as the mass begins to heat, the process 

 should be repeated once or twice, until it is made as 

 fine and as thoroughly mixed together, as time will allow. 

 The sand will be found to be excellent to keep the manure 

 finely divided and light, or to " cut " it, as farmers say. 



In applying the manure for this or other crops, many 

 formers use all the manure in the hill ; some, because hav- 

 ing but little to use, they wish to get it as near the plants 

 as possible, while others seem to hold the theory, that a 

 circle of three or four feet in diameter is a sufficient area 

 for the roots of squash vines to travel over in search of 

 food. Where all the manure is used in the hill, the squash 

 vines push over the ground rapidly, until just after the 

 setting of the squashes, when they lose vigor, the squashes 

 develop but slowly, and in the end there is a small crop of 

 undersized squashes, for the roots, having meanwhile 

 pushed beyond the hills, can not find food sufficient to 

 sustain the growth of the vines. The roots of squash 

 vines increase faster than is generally supposed. There 

 is a theory that the roots grow to the same length as 

 the vines, keeping pace with them in their growth. 

 Whether the roots grow as long, or longer, than the vines, 

 I can not say, but when the runner of a vine had pushed 

 out but eighteen inches, I found the root over three feet 

 in length, thus proving that at one period of growth, the 

 root increases faster than the vine. This spreading of the 

 roots through the soil is one of the marvels of vegetable 

 life. I remember once lifting a small pile of litter that 

 was about six inches deep, some dozen feet distant from 

 a squash hill, when I saw what appeared to be a fine 

 mist at the surface of the ground, but upon examination 

 myriads of fine rootlets were seen, that were doubtless 

 feeding on the decaying vegetable matter. Any person 



