160 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



on sod land, plough and add the balance with plaster to the hill, 

 plant single eyes, discarding seed end if you please, and after 

 digging, l)in up in dry sand. Last year I put up two hundred 

 bushels in this manner, and they came out as hard and sound 

 as when first stored. Li case of occasional decay, the sand, 

 absorbing the moisture, encrusts the potato and prevents 

 spreading. 



Squashes. — My mode of cultivation is to select a piece of 

 deep soil about the third year from grass ; plough in about four 

 cords per acre of stable manure, harrow thoroughly, run fur- 

 rows six feet apart, and put two shovelfuls of stable manure, 

 night soil and muck compost in the hill ; printed directions 

 from most seedsmen give eight or ten feet space between the 

 hills ; I prefer to concentrate a little, and thin out to a single 

 plant. Squashes will pay for almost any amount of manure, 

 and single plants six feet apart each way actually require the 

 amount stated. 



I make it a point to lime as soon as the plants are up ; the 

 striped and black bugs dispute possession, and unless you are 

 ahead they will be ; to dose the former, put a handle into the 

 nose of an old-style tin coffee-pot, perforate the bottom with fine 

 holes, and fill with aii'-slacked lime ; two quarts will dust one- 

 fourth of an acre, and fast as you can walk ; use this often 

 while the dew is on, and after rains ; the black bug will crawl 

 under shingles at night and can be disposed of in the morning. 



Another pest has taken hold of squashes and other vines with- 

 in a few years, making it rather hazardous to thin, very early, 

 to single plants ; the vine suddenly withers and dies even after 

 having run several yards ; I have held many an inquest over 

 those doomed vines, but the verdict has always been " Cause 

 unknown " ; no sign of disease can be detected in root or 

 branch, nor can farmers, that I have ever heard, advance with 

 confidence any theory regarding it. 



In harvesting squashes do not wait until the day preceding 

 frost ; gather earlier, before they are over-chilled, and house, if 

 possible, without placing one upon another. 



Cabbages. — Fifteen or twenty years ago it was comparatively 

 fun to raise cabbages ; to-day the little destructives whose name 



