ESSEX SOCIETY. 23 



forwarding them. The squashes are indeed " genuine," but 

 not the old Valparaiso, introduced by Commodore Porter, some 

 twenty-five or more years ago. They are the "autumnal mar- 

 row squashes," first described by Mr. Ives, of Salem, and 

 through him recommended and introduced to general cultiva- 

 tion in this vicinity, and, though subject to vary and degener- 

 ate by mixture with other kinds, they have almost excluded the 

 others from our markets by reason of their acknowledged supe- 

 riority. There is, indeed, but one kind which can compare 

 with them in goodness, namely, that which is called the acorn 

 SQUASH, of which 1 shall be happy to distribute the seeds. The 

 autumnal marrow squash is an improved variety, apparently 

 originating from Porter's Valparaiso squash. It was first culti- 

 vated in Northampton, whence Mr. Ives procured the seeds. 

 This summer, I raised in my garden a squash weighing twenty- 

 five and three quarter pounds, and three feet six and a quarter 

 inches in circumference. From my own recollection, and from 

 descriptions given me by others, I believe it will turn out to be 

 the Porter Valparaiso squash. The color is Muish green, striped 

 with whitish lines, and irregularly varied with orange-colored 

 blotches. But color is of less importance and less constant than 

 other characters. This squash has a little knob at the blossom 

 end, formed by the base of the pistil, which remains permanently 

 attached. In most other kinds of squashes the pistil falls off 

 with the blossom. My squash, moreover, seems to be the Cu- 

 cuRBiTA MAMMEATA, dcscribcd by Molina, as a native of Chili, 

 and named on account of the nipple-like tubercle at the end. 

 The fruit-stem is precisely like. that of the autumnal marrow 

 squash, which also is surmounted at the apex by a little tuber- 

 cle. 



I hear very little complaint of potato-rot. Sometime in the 

 spring or summer of 1849, I wrote an article concerning the in= 

 sects supposed to produce the disease in potatoes, and made 

 some remarks on the cultivation of these vegetables, and on the 

 St. Helena variety. My article was printed in some newspa- 

 pers, but I have in vain looked for it, though desirous to refer 

 to it again. I suggested that, perhaps, the St. Helena potato 

 might be constitutionally so vigorous and hardy, as in great 



