:232 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



stems on and do not bruise. If frost nips them ever 

 so little, they begin to decay, at first slowly, but 

 soon they will be ruined. After they are gathered 

 it is best to store them in an outbuilding until 

 danger of freezing approaches. They should then 

 be taken to a cool, dry, airy cellar, and placed upon 

 shelves, being careful that they do not touch one 

 another. Squashes gathered and taken care of in 

 this way will keep good until nearly spring. 



Francis C. Kiner of Illinois writes: "The best 

 luck I ever had storing squashes and pumpkins was 

 in a cellar adjoining a furnace room. It was very 

 dry and the windows were all kept open until there 

 was danger of frost entering the cellar. The 

 squashes were gathered just before frost without 

 bruising, care being taken to leave all the stems on. 

 They were set on shelves about 4 feet up from the 

 cellar floor. The windows were left open for a while 

 every warm day during the winter to air the cellar. 



" These squashes kept nicely until January 1. 

 Then some of them began to speck. When I 

 wanted one to use I looked them over and used the 

 ones that were beginning to show signs of not keep- 

 ing very well. By this method none went to waste. 

 A number of them kept until spring. The 

 squashes were the Hubbard, the Hester, the Mar- 

 low, and sweet pumpkins. There was a fine lot of 

 them, and I do not know that our family ever en- 

 joyed anything better than they did those squashes. 

 The Hester squash, especially, is a fine keeper, and, 

 if cooked right, is equal to sweet potatoes." 



TOMATO 



To grow tomatoes requires no especial skill. In 

 fact, there is no plant in field or garden except the 



