SQUASH. 



135 



take place ; but this will be generally supplanted by peas, beans, 

 and other summer crops. If, however, the reader wish, like me, 

 to have it all the summer, he must sow again in the month of 

 June, and again in the month of July. These two latter sowings 

 being made in the coolest and least sunny part of the garden. As 

 to saving the seed of the spinage, a few plants of each sort will be 

 sufficient. The plants must be pulled up before the seed be dead 

 ripe, or the birds will have every grain. It is a coarse-looking 

 seed, with a thick husk upon it ; but the small birds are very fond 

 of it, and will begin to hammer it out of the husks while these 

 are still green. The seed-plants, when pulled up, should be laid 

 in the sun to become perfectly dry, and the seed should be then 

 rubbed off and put by in a dry place. 



192. SQUASH, sometimes called Vegetable Marrow ; and, 

 though the thing is certainly very good as a vegetable, and the 

 former name not very flattering, the latter is certainly beyond its 

 merits. This plant, or rather this tribe of plants, is of the pump- 

 kin kind. There are several sorts, some for summer use and some 

 for winter use. The summer kinds that I have are thejiat hush, 

 the long hush, the crooked-necked hush ; that is to say, they grow 

 upright and branch out like a little bush ; whereas the winter sorts 

 run upon the ground like cucumbers and melons. The time for 

 sowing all the sorts, in England, is about the middle of May in 

 the south, and perhaps the first week in June in the north. The 

 squash is not so tender as the cucumber, and will stand any little 

 frosts that we have in Jiuie, though such frosts check them in their 

 growth. To have them early, they should be sowed in a gentle 

 hot-bed in April. Put out into pots in the manner directed for 

 cucumbers. They should be topped, while in the pots, in the 

 manner directed for cucumbers : about the middle of May, the 

 pots should be taken out and sunk in the natural ground, and a 

 frame set over them, or they should have a covering of hoops and 

 mats for the night-time, just to keep off the frosts. About the 

 middle of June, they should be planted out in the open level 

 ground, which need not be exceedingly rich. The distance for the 

 bush sorts ought to be five feet at the least, and for the running 

 sorts, of which I have the white winter squash, and the hell-shaped 

 winter squash, should be six feet at the least. The ground should 

 be kept very clean. When the plants are put out of the pots tlie 

 balls should be sunk in the ground to a level with the grouiul, a 



