LUTHER BURBANK 



The squashes, gourds, and pumpkins constitute 

 a tribe of melons that differ from the watermelon 

 and muskmelon in that their flesh is not edible 

 until it is cooked. 



There are great numbers of species of this tribe, 

 a large variety of which are imder cultivation. 

 Among these are the forms colloquially known as 

 crookneck, turbine squash, giant Chile Hubbard, 

 bush scallop, and gourds of various types both 

 ornamental and useful. 



The pumpkins, grown often in the cornfield of 

 the farmer but seldom in the garden, constitute a 

 form of squash rather distinct from the others, as 

 evidenced not only by their appearance but by the 

 fact that they do not cross readily with the other 

 squashes. 



There is, however, a good deal of confusion in 

 the use of the names pumpkin and squash in 

 different regions. This is brought out prominently 

 in California where a squash if grown for stock 

 food is called a pumpkin, whatever its variety. 



The earliest form of squash with which I 

 worked was the winter or Canada crookneck, 

 which in my boyhood was one of the most popular 

 of squashes. It had run into several forms, one 

 being of immense size with a short and heavier 

 neck. The summer crookneck squash, also com- 

 mon at that time, was a long, bright yellow, warty 



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