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THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



Boston Marrow. Refs. 1, 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 



28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 

 50, 51, 52, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 65, 67, 72, 

 73, 77, 78, 96, 98, 99, 101, 102, 105, 108, 115, 

 116, 117, 119, 121, 125, 129, 130, 132, 135, 136. 

 Syns. Autumnal Boston Marrow, Autumnal Mar- 

 row, Boston Vegetable Marrow, Cambridge Mar- 

 row, Chicago Marrow, Chicago Orange Mar- 

 row, Colvin's Orange Marrow, Dunlap Early 

 Prolific Marrow, Early Marrow, Early Orange 

 Marrow, Early Prolific Marrow, Early Prolific 

 Orange Marrow, Extra Early Marrow, Extra 

 Early Orange Marrow, Extra Early Prolific 

 Marrow, Extra Early Prolific Orange Mar- 

 row, Golden West Hard Shell, Improved Boston 

 Marrow, Improved Marrow, Improved Orange 

 Marrow, Improved Prolific Marrow, Improved 

 Prolific Orange Marrow, Large Boston Mar- 

 row, Marrow, Metcalf, Orange, Orange Marrow, 

 Prolific Marrow, Prolific Orange Marrow. 

 For over a hundred years the Autumnal or Boston 

 Marrow, or one of the many strains selected from it, 

 has been grown as the standard early squash. As the 

 first of the early varieties to be ready for market it 

 has been one of the most widely grown of all sorts. 

 Mr. J. M. Ives of Salem, Massachusetts, in a letter 

 published by Fearing Burr, Jr., in his work on Field and 

 Garden Vegetables, acknowledges the gift of a specimen 

 in 1831 from a friend in Northampton, Massachusetts, 

 who in turn had received the seeds from Buffalo, New 

 York. A tribe of Indians who visited Buffalo in the 

 spring of each year had, so the story goes, furnished 

 seed to Buffalo gardeners. Here the trail ends. 



Of this variety, Gregory, writing in the New England 

 Farmer, says: " If this squash originated among our 

 Indians as this statement might lead us to infer, it is 

 too much to suppose that with its splendid appearance 

 and the many excellent qualities it possessed when first 

 introduced it should have been unknown to the whites 

 to so late a day." This also falls in with the view of 

 T. W. Harris (65) who tried to find evidence that the 

 Autumnal Marrow of Ives could be traced back to 

 either Commodore Porter's Valparaiso squash and there- 

 fore to Chilean origin or to the "C. mammeata" 

 described as native of Chili by Molena in 1782. 



From 1831, the year this was first introduced, until 

 1920, when Oscar H. Will of Bismarck, North Dakota, 

 introduced several varieties as coming from an Indian 

 origin, we have a period of nearly 100 years. Yet during 

 this entire period if we are to rely on published records 

 we have no other varieties of C. maxima mentioned as 

 coming from a source traceable to the Indians. 



There have been many strains of this offered, such 

 as Cambridge Marrow, Prolific Marrow, Dunlap Marrow, 

 Chicago Orange Marrow. While it was thought that 

 some of these were of hybrid origin most were probably 

 selections or sports. The factor of color seems to have 

 attracted attention. This has been true with all of the 

 yellow squash, for apparently the ideal has been to 

 select the darker specimens and to work toward a bright 



orange color skin. Descriptions of the variety as grown 

 when first introduced picture it as a variety weighing 

 from 5 to 6 pounds, smaller than the type now grown. 

 Leading seedsmen of the past generation referred to 

 this squash as the true pie squash, and apparently 

 preferred it to the drier varieties. 



This variety is one of the earliest winter squashes, 

 having reached maturity at Geneva in 100 days, 10 

 days earlier than Golden Hubbard and in season with 

 Quality. The vines of Boston Marrow and Golden 

 Hubbard are very similar, although the pistillate flowers 

 of the former are larger and have a turbinate ovary 

 instead of fusiform one. The fruits of Boston Marrow 

 are more flattened at the apex, not curved, and lack 

 the grayish green blotch near the fleshy style common 

 to Golden Hubbard. 



Plant trailing; vines coarse, moderately vigorous, 12-15 feet 

 long; branches few, basal. Cotyledons moderately long and broad, 

 3% x 2' 4 inches; long oval: apex tapered; veining moderately 

 prominent; color moderately light green. Leaves shallowly lobed, 

 small, 9x12 inches, margin slightly serrate near the base, otherwise 

 denticulate; surface moderately smooth; color moderately dark 

 green; petiole moderately short and moderately slender, 12-14 

 inches. Flower — pistillate, moderately large, 6 inches across, pale 

 yellow; ovary somewhat turbinated, abruptly tapered towards apex, 

 slightly tapered towards base; sepals moderately short and moder- 

 ately slender, 3 4 inch; — staminate, medium size, 5 1 ; inches across; 

 sepals moderately short and moderately heavy at the base, 3 4 inch; 

 pedicle short, 5-6 inches. 



Fruit moderately small, 12-14 x 10-11 inches; weight 12-16 

 pounds. Shape medial nearly globular, tapering very abruptly to 

 the apex which is often nearly flattened, and gradually tapering 

 towards the base; ribbed widely; furrows shallow; surface wrinkled 

 and distinctly pock-marked. Blossom scar with button present, 

 \^—yi inch long. Skin color orange (apricot orange to rufus; 

 regularly laced with an orange buff (light ochraceous salmon) color 

 pattern. Fruit stalk medium long, 3—4 inches, round, slightly 

 curved, corky, soft. Shell moderately soft and medium thick ' . inch. 

 Flesh thickest at the base, 2-2 ] 2 inches, medial and apical 1-1' -_> 

 inches; texture moderately fine, moderately moist, tender; fair 

 flavor and sweetness; quality fair; color orange yellow (deep chrome 

 to orange buff). Seed cavity large, has much placental tissue which 

 is moist, tender, and easily removed. 



Seed moderately large; moderately long and moderately 

 narrow; medium plump, 2.15 x 1.24 x .34 cm. (108 per oz. . face 

 wrinkled, glossy white; margin rounded, smooth. 



Brighton. Syn. New Brighton. 



In 1914 Richard Wellington self pollinated a number 

 of plants of Hubbard squash at the Minnesota College 

 of Agriculture at St. Paul. Some 23 inbred lines which 

 could be separated according to size, shape, and color 

 were isolated. These lines were carried along and con- 

 tinued selfings made. In 1921 a small fruited type 

 was introduced as Kitchenette. The demand for a 

 larger fruited strain persisted and in 1932 the largest 

 of these was named New Brighton and introduced from 

 the Minnesota College of Agriculture and later by the 

 C. J. Lindholm Seed Co. of Minneapolis. 



Brighton attained maturity at Geneva in 120 days, 

 5 days earlier than Banana, in season with Blue Hubbard 

 and Chicago Warted Hubbard and 5 days later than 

 Hubbard. The vines are more vigorous than those of 

 Hubbard, have leaves more glossy green, distinctly more 

 crumpled and blistered, with auricles more ascending. 



