THE PUMPKIN. 107 



ribbed. Its size is much affected by soil, season, and the 

 purity of the seed. Av- 

 erage specimens will 

 measure fourteen inches 

 in length, and eleven or 

 twelve inches in diameter. 

 Color rich, clear orange- 

 yellow ; skin, or rind, i1 

 the fruit is well matured, 

 rather dense and hard ; 

 flesh variable in thick- 

 ness, but averaging an 

 inch and a half, of a 

 yellow color, generally Commou Yellow rield . pumpkin . 



coarse-grained, and often 



stringy, but sometimes of fine texture, dry; and of good 

 quality ; seeds of medium size, cream-yellow. 



The cultivation of the Common Yellow Field -pumpkin 

 in this country is almost coeval with its settlement. For a 

 long period, few, if any, of the numerous varieties of 

 squashes, now so generally disseminated, were known ; and 

 the Pumpkin was not only extensively employed as a mate- 

 rial for pies, but was much used as a vegetable, in the form 

 of squash, at the table. By many it is still highly esteemed, 

 and even preferred for pies to the squash, or the more im- 

 proved varieties of pumpkins ; but its cultivation at present 

 is rather for agricultural than for culinary purposes. 



A large, yellow, field variety, not unlike Connecticut 

 the Common Yellow in form, but with a Field-pump- 

 softer skin, or shell. It is prolific, of fair 

 quality as an esculent, and one of the best for cultivating 

 for stock or for agricultural purposes. 



Fruit oval, much elongated, the length Long Yellow 

 usually nearly twice the diameter. Well- e km? 311 



