92 THE FARM. 



the owner is at a loss to know tbe reason. When stored in heaps, if tlie 

 storehouse be dry, the under squashes will send out moisture in such quan- 

 tities as to keep the whole heap surroiinded by moisture. Squashes to keep 

 well, should not only be kept in a di-y atmosphere with a very even tempera- 

 ture, but they should be spread on the floor, or on shelves, so that the air 

 can easily pass between them. 



All of the soft shell and unripe squashes should be disposed of as soon 

 as possible after they are harvested, and only the hard shell and perfectly 

 ripe ones should be kept for winter; crookneck squashes keep best with 

 most people; the reason probably is, they are ripe and are handled with 

 care, and are usually hung up in a dry place. The same treatment of mar- 

 row sqiiashes would no doubt secure very satisfactory results. 



Squash Culture. — A successful raiser of squashes says he manages in 

 this way: I dig holes as deep as I conveniently can with a hoe, six feet apart, 

 close by the side of early peas or potatoes. As soon as the weather will per- 

 mit I stamp a wheelbarrow of unfermented manure in each hole, pour in a 

 pail of water, and haul over the manure six inches of earth, being careful 

 that the hill is no higher than the surrounding surface. Plant ten or 

 twelve seeds in each hill; when they begin to run, thin to two vines in each 

 hill. The potatoes will be fit for family use before the squashes begin to 

 r\va, and can be dug ahead of them, leaving the ground mellow, so that the 

 squash vines will root at every joint. This is a great saving of ground in a 

 small garden. Train them all one way. 



Experimeuts in Melon and Squash Culture. — A practical gardener 

 makes the following statement: " Last year, as a test of a frequent practice 

 among growers of melons and squashes, I pinched the ends of the long main 

 shoots of the melons, squashes, and cuctmibers, and left some to run at their 

 own will. One squash-plant sent out a single stem reaching more than forty 

 feet, but did not bear any fruit. Another plant was pinched until it formed 

 a compact mass of intermingUng side-shoots eight feet square, and it bore 

 sixteen squashes. The present year a muskmelon-plant thtis pinched 

 in, covered the space allotted to it, and it set twenty-three specimens of 

 fruit; the most of them were pinched olf. The pinching causes many lateral 

 branches, wliich latter produce the female or fertile blossoms, while the 

 main vines produce only the male blossoms. The difference in favor of the 

 yield of an acre of melons treated by this pinching process may easily 

 amount to 100 barrels." '* 



Hints on Melon Cultui-e. — A correspondent at Brighton, 111,, writes to 

 an agricultural paper: " Of course everybody who knows anything at all 

 about melon culture understands that melons do best on warm sandy land, 

 but everybody, perhaps, don't know that I have raised fine melons on heavy 

 clay soil. I put the land in tirst-rate condition and fertilize in the hill mth 

 well-rotted barnyard manure. I also raise the hills a few inches above the 

 level to make the ground warmer and dryer. I never put seed in the ground 

 until the weather is settled and the soil is dry and warm. I use plenty of 

 seed, so as to insure a good stand. The very day the \-ines begin to show 

 green above ground I begin sprinkling the hills with bone-dust, which opera- 

 tion I repeat every day until they are out of reach of the striped bug, that 

 foe to molon patches. Now I don't say that sprinkhng with bone-dust is a 

 sure preventive in all cases to the bug, but it has proved a pajing applica- 

 tion to me. I have had fewer bugs in my melon patch since I began using 



