THE SQUASH. 



121 



Puritan Squash. 



of the Old Colony, retains its distinctive character to a 

 remarkable degree, even when 

 grown under the most unfavorable 

 circumstances. Seeds obtained 

 from a gardener who had culti- 

 vated the variety indiscriminately 

 among numerous summer and win- 

 ter kinds for upwards of twenty 

 years produced specimens uniform- 

 ly true to the normal form, color, 

 and quality. It is hardy and pro- 

 ductive, good for table use, excel- 

 lent for pies, and well deserving 

 of cultivation. The form of the 

 fruit, its short, fleshy stem, and its 

 peculiar seeds, distinguish the va- 

 riety from all others. 



Plant similar in character to that of the Hub- Sweet-potato 

 bard and Autumnal Marrow ; fruit twelve Squash, 

 or fourteen inches long, seven or eight inches thick ; some- 

 times ribbed, but frequently without rib-markings ; oblong, 

 tapering to the ends, which are often bent or curved in the 

 manner of some of the types of the Hubbard ; stem of 

 medium size, striated; skin ash -green, with a smooth, 

 polished surface ; flesh salmon-yellow, thick, fine-grained, 

 dry, and sweet, if the variety is pure, and the fruit well 

 matured, its quality approaches that of the Hubbard and 

 Autumnal Marrow ; seeds white. 



The variety is hardy and productive, keeps well, and is 

 deserving of cultivation. When grown in the vicinity of 

 the last-named sorts, it often becomes mixed, and rapidly 

 degenerates. In its purity, it is uniformly of one color, 

 with perhaps the exception of the under surface, which is 

 sometimes paler or yellowish. It has been suggested that 

 this variety and the Hubbard may have originated under 

 similar circumstances. 



