100 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



THE "WINTER CEOOKNBCK SQUASH. 



Among all the varieties of the squash perhaps 

 there is none so easily raised and preserved 

 through the winter 

 a 3 the Crookneck 

 Squash here figured. Mi 

 It is, also, an excel- MM'/im 

 lent variety boiled or Mlli'pi'/fi: 

 for pies. We copy wIh 

 cut and description \Er MS? 

 from Bukr's new "**■ Mfm!, 



work on the Field 

 and Garden Vegeta- 

 bles of America. 



This .is one of the oldest and most familiar of 

 the var*eties. Plant hardy and vigorous ; fruit 

 somewhat irregular in form, the neck solid and 

 nearly cylindrical, and the blossom end more or 

 less swollen. In some specimens the neck is 

 nearly straight ; in others, sweeping, or circular ; 

 and sometimes the extremities nearly or quite ap- 

 proach each other. Size very variable, being af- 

 fected greatly both by soil and season ; the weight 

 ranging from six pounds to forty pounds and up- 

 wards. A specimen was raised by Capt. Joseph 

 Lovett, of Beverly, Mass., and exhibited before 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the 

 weight of which was nearly seventy pounds. 

 Color sometimes green ; but, when fully mature, 

 often cream-yellow. The color, like that of the 

 Canada Crookneck, frequently changes after be- 

 ing harvested. If green when plucked, it grad- 

 ually becomes paler ; or, if yellow when taken 

 from the vines, it becomes, during the winter, of a 

 reddish cream-color. Flesh salmon-yellow, not 

 uniform in texture or solidity, sometimes close- 

 grained, sweet, and fine-flavored, and sometimes 

 very coarse, stringy, and nearly worthless for the 

 table ; seeds of medium size, grayish-white, the 

 border darker, or brownish. About two hundred 

 are contained in an ounce. 



It is a very hardy and productive variety ; 

 ripens its crop with great certainty ; suffers less 

 from the depredations of the insects than most of 

 the winter sorts ; and, if protected from cold and 

 dampness during the winter months, will keep the 

 entire year. 



Product of a Dairy.— J. L. R., Jefferson 

 Co., N. Y.j in the Country Gentleman, says that 

 during the year 1863 he made from seven cows 

 1,043 pounds 7 ounces of butter. Average per 

 cow 234 pounds 12 ounces. Net proceeds of dairy 

 stands thus : 



1,643 7-16ths pounds butter, average price 24^ cts $398 55 



Milk sold 8 67 



Calf raised worth . 5 00 



Calf fatted 4 00 



Deacon and \\ ;il skins 5 25 



Value of milk fed to 3 hogs, doubtful, but say 15 CO 



$436 47 



Average per cow $62 35 



No account being made for milk and cream 

 used in the family. 



The cows were soiled in the summer, and were 

 kept on hay, corn fodder and straw, with three 

 q-iarts of shorts and a peck of roots per day in 



CARE OF ASPARAGUS BEDS. 

 Early last spring we prepared and published an 

 article in the A 7 . E. Farmer upon the culture of 

 asparagus, and its importance to the family in an 

 economical and moral point of view. We have 

 reason to believe that the suggestions then made 

 drew attention to the subject, and that many a 

 liberal bed of roots has been planted in conse- 

 quence. Something more, however, remains to 

 be done, and the next important step is to attend 

 to the 



Spring Dressing of the Reds. 



This should be done as early as the weather 

 and the condition of the soil will permit. If the 

 spring is late and the soil wet and heavy the work 

 must be deferred until there is a change. When 

 this takes place, even if it is as early as the latter 

 part of March or the first of April, clear away all 

 the old stems and litter of every kind. This is fre- 

 quently done by burning it on the bed, and does no 

 harm to the plants, while the ashes left from it 

 are decidedly beneficial. Care must be taken not 

 to wound the crowns of the roots with the tines 

 of the fork. Forking the beds should not be neg- 

 lected, as the admission of the sun and rain into 

 the ground, induces the plants to throw up buds 

 of superior size ; in order to ensure this the ground 

 should be kept clear of weeds at all seasons, as 

 these greatly impoverish, and frequently smother 

 the plants. 



If one has but little land and desires to make 

 th»most of it, he may plant the ground between 

 the rows of asparagus with potatoes, beans, or 

 other crop, which will do no harm to the aspara- 

 gus, if the soil is liberally manured and cleanly 

 cultivated. 



For the A'w England Farmer. 

 EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES. 



Mr. Editor : — Having read much in the Farm- 

 er about the good qualities of various kinds of ma- 

 nures, I thought I would give you some of my 

 experiments : 



1. In the spring of 1861 I laid down a piece 

 of land to grass and sowed with wheat. Nearly 

 in the middle of the piece, on one rod square, I 

 sowed two and a half bushels of ashes. The first 

 and second seasons no difference was perceivable; 

 the third season, while all around was herdsgrass, 

 the square rod was all clover. The conclusion, 

 therefore, must be that the ashes might as well 

 have been somewhere else. 



2. In the spring of 1862, having forty bushels 

 of ashes, and ten or twelve bushels of hen ma- 

 nure, I mixed them together well, and added 

 twelve bushels of loam. After preparing a piece 

 of land for corn planting, by first harrowing thor- 

 oughly, (it being sward land plowed the fall be- 

 fore,) then plowing with a heavy plow, harrowing 

 again, spreading on six cords of stable manure to 

 the acre, plowing in lightly, levelling, and mark- 

 ing both ways, I put about a pint of the compost 

 in each hill, with the exception of two rows 



