PUMPKIN AND SQUASH 



PUMPKIN AND SQUASH 



529 



PUMPKIN AND SQUASH FOR STOCK-FEED- 

 ING. Ciieurbita Pepo, Linn., and C maxima, 

 Duch. Gucurbitacece. Figs. 763-764. 



By S. Eraser. 



Varieties of pumpkin and squash are grown for 

 stock-feeding. The Mammoth Chili is one of the 



Staminate flower and leaf of common field 

 pumpkin (Oucurbiia Pepo). 



large squashes and the Connecticut Field is the 

 standard pumpkin, these being among the best 

 kinds for feeding. 



So long as hand labor was used in working corn 

 it was a common practice to put a few pumpkins 

 in with the corn ; but, with the advent of machinery 

 and of tillage until the corn plants are tall, the 

 custom has rightly fallen into disrepute. It is a 

 better practice, in most instances, to plant the crop 

 by itself. 



Culture. 



A sandy loam soil is preferred. It should be in 

 good condition and be given a deep fall-plowing. 

 It may be marked off in checks 8x8 feet or 

 8 X 10 . feet in the fall, and manure applied near 

 where the hill is to be planted ; or this work may 

 be done in spring. The manure is covered with 

 soil, and some fertilizer may be added if deemed 

 advisable. About three pounds of seed are planted 

 per acre, and finally three or four plants are left 

 in a hill. Constant cultivation is given until the 

 spreading of the vines checks it. 



The crop should be harvested and used or stored 

 before severe freezing. For storage, the fruits 

 should be carefully handled, not cracked or bruised, 

 the stem left on, and kept in a dry and moderately 



B34 



warm cellar. Two or three mature fruits on a vine 

 is considered to be a good crop and may give a 

 yield of thirty or more tons per acre. Since the 

 cost of production is small, this is often a very 

 remunerative crop. 



Uses. 



Thus far the pumpkin has been viewed as rough- 

 age, as competing with silage in the ration. That 

 this is the correct view does not appear to have 

 been proved. The average analysis shows that 

 its percentage composition is, water, 90.5 ; ash, 

 0.5 ; protein, 1.3 ; crude fiber, 1.7 ; nitrogen-free 

 extract, 5.2 ; ether extract, 0.4. About 80 per 

 cent of the dry matter is regarded as digestible. 

 Henry states, " For dairy cows the pumpkin is an 

 excellent fall feed, none being more highly rel- 

 ished ; for swine in the first stages of fattening it 

 is useful either fresh or cooked with meal." In 

 feeding value, the pumpkins and squashes should 

 rather be compared with roots and cabbages. It is 

 probable that increased attention will be given to 

 these crops, as more careful feeding practices are 

 developed ; at present they are merely incidental 

 crops so far as stock-feeding goes. This brief 

 article is designed to call attention to this class of 

 plants as feeding products. 



Enemies. 



The striped cucumber beetle may destroy the 

 plants while young and the squash bug is some- 

 times a serious pest. The former is difficult to 

 combat successfully. Arsenical poisons are effec- 

 tive, but injure the foliage. The best results gen- 

 erally follow the planting of an early trap crop of 

 squash, which is sprayed with arsenical poisons. 

 The main crop is then sprayed with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture. The squash bug is combated by keeping the 

 fields free from rubbish, trapping with squash 

 leaves and examining daily, and by hand-picking 

 of the old bugs early in spring. 



Literature. 



Squashes : How to Grow Them, J. J. H. Gregory 

 (1889), Orange -Judd Company, New York; Farmers' 



Fig. 764. Connecticut field pumpkin. 



