32 SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC, 



together at convenient distances, that they may be more 

 readily protected. The interval between the cutting of 

 squashes and the storing of them is a critical period, ns 

 oftentimes the keeping of the crop depends upon the 

 course then taken. There is a pernicious practice, quite 

 prevalent, of placing them -in piles as high as can be made, 

 without their rolling off. Should frost threaten, this, of 

 course, is necessary in order that the mass may be the 

 more readily covered with vines to protect them; but 

 when so piled, as soon as danger from frost is over, they 

 should at once be taken down, so that all may be exposed as 

 much as possible to the sun and air. Farmers, in handling 

 squashes at this period, are apt to lose sight of one im- 

 portant fact, viz. : that when a squash is cut from the vine, 

 its vitality is impaired, and it has no longer such power to 

 resist the effects of atmospheric changes as it had' previous 

 to the separation. I say its vitality is "impaired," for 

 the fact that the seed continues to fill out for a month or 

 two after the squashes are gathered and stored, proves 

 that there is a degree of vitality, however feeble, yet 

 remaining in the squash after separation from the vine. 

 The fact that sap exudes and gradually thickens into 

 tears, or, at times, runs in a stream from the stems 

 when cut, no matter how ripe a soft stemmed squash 

 may appear to be, seems to prove that some vital function 

 of the sap vessels has been disturbed ; while the greater 

 readiness with which such squashes decay, carries us be- 

 yond theory to the fact of a diminished vitality. I have 

 known the lower layer of a lot of Marrow squashes in the 

 field, to be found rotten through and through on removal — 



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and this when there had been no frost to injure them — the 

 result being due wholly to the dampness of the ground, dur- 

 ing a rainy interval, acting on a diminished vitality. 



I have known instances in which lots of Marrow squashes 

 that had never been touched by frost, and were perfectly 

 sound when stored, were suddenly covered with spots of 



