SQUASHES, HOW TO GROW THEM, ETC. 8? 



fine dark green color, and becoming of a reddish, rusty hue. 

 The best temperature is as low as forty degrees. After 

 squashes are stored, the great desiderata are a low tem- 

 perature and a dry air. Should the weather be mild in the 

 course of the winter, never be tempted to open the win- 

 dows unless the air is dry, — a very rare thing in winter, 

 as, on most mild winter days, the air is loaded with moist- 

 ure. If it is desirable to air the squash-house, select a dry 

 day when not very cold, start up the fire and open the 

 windows at the roof. Squashes that were grown in a wet 

 sea-son, will rot most in winter, and vice versa. Other 

 things equal, the keeping of squashes depends greatly on 

 the hygrometric state of the air — in other words, the 

 dryer the air the better they will keep. This is the reason 

 squashes keep better in a squash-house than in a cellar — ■ 

 the house is no warmer than a cellar, but the air is dryer. 

 In dry, sandy cellars, by the aid of a fire, they can be kept 

 about as well as in a squash-house. Squashes in dry 

 cellars will usually keep very well until January, and some- 

 times to the first of February, particularly if the damp, 

 external air can be kept from them. Several years ago I 

 lost not far*from twenty-five tons of squashes in about ten 

 days, as I now believe, from having admitted the warm, 

 damp air of a January thaw into the cellar. After squashes 

 are stored, the less they can be handled the better; and 

 in cellars, it is oftentimes better to let a few rot than to 

 overhaul squashes late in the season with reference to 

 culling out the rotten ones, for, after such overhauling, 

 they usually decay fast^: than before. Cellar-kept 

 squashes have some advantages over these kept in a squash- 

 house ; they keep their original rich green color, lose but 

 little or none in weight, and are of better quality. They 

 have the two disadvantages of not keeping as long, and 

 perishing very soon when sent late to market. This latter 

 fact is now generally known to dealers, and they hesitate 

 to purchase cellar-kept squashes late in winter. The win- 



