242 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



So mncli for the root crops. I will say a few words upon 

 other vegetables. 



For the squash crop, we want a warm location, warm soil and 

 plenty of manure. As a rule, all crops that have broad leaves 

 want plenty of nitrogen. We want, therefore, rich, strong 

 manure for squashes, plenty of night-soil, plenty of barn 

 manure, plenty of guano. Kelp does not seem to be adapted to 

 squashes. It does very well for carrots, first-rate for cabbages, 

 and several other crops. For squashes, we want about as 

 liberal a supply of manure as we should have for carrots. I have 

 seen twenty cords put to the acre, but in that case the man did 

 not get enough back to pay for five cords. But the difference 

 between heavy manuring and the common way of manuring 

 may sometimes make all the difference between a good crop and 

 no crop at all. How ? Why, in this way. Suppose the season 

 is dry, as it was last year, and unpropitious for crops. If the 

 land is very heavy with manure, the plants will hold their own 

 through the extreme drought, and grow when the drought is 

 past. You and I saw some crops dry up and disappear last 

 summer, whereas others, where the land had been heavily 

 manured, barely holding their own while the drought lasted, as 

 soon as it broke, went on and produced a good crop. I know 

 one man in our section who got thirty tons, where he only ex- 

 pected to get ten or twelve, which sold for from $60 to $100 a 

 ton, so that his extra manuring paid him enormous returns. 



We like new land for squashes, because it is generally more 

 free from the striped bug and the black squash bug. It is a 

 singular fact, that wherever we have given up pumpkins wholly, 

 that large black bug which we used to fear so much has almost 

 wholly disappeared. I have not seen one for two or three years. 

 The little striped bug, which we do not fear so much, is some- 

 times a great pest, and this year I had more trouble from the 

 striped bug than for the past nine years. I had to keep one 

 man most, of his time sprinkling the leaves with lime and plas- 

 ter. I do not like lime so well as plaster ; it is apt to be a little 

 acrid and burn the leaves, especially if there is rain just after it 

 is applied. When we use it, we get it well air^slacked, so that 

 the rain will not act upon it. We scatter it on in the morning 

 while tlie dew is on. Sometimes these bugs will take half an 

 acre in half a day. We wish to hurry the vines in their growth, 



