THE SOUTHERN PLANTER, 



215 



qualities, this is perhaps the most valuable variety 

 to the New England farmer. It is said to degene- 

 rate in the Middle and Southern States, where 

 probably Commodore Porter's Valparaiso or some 

 kindred variety may be better adapted to the 

 climate. 



. Tne Early Canada squash seems to be a preco- 

 cious and dwarfed variety of the common crook- 

 neck. It is smaller, with a short and often straight 

 neck, and is of a dark and dirty buff color exter- 

 nally. It comes into eating early, quite as soon as 

 the autumnal marrow, and was, indeed still is, much 

 esteemed as a table vegetable. 



The custard squash or pumpkin is an oblong, 

 deeply furrowed, and prominently ten-ribbed fruit, 

 with a pale buff' and very hard (but not woody; 

 rind, and fine, light yellow flesh, much esteemed in 

 the making of pies and puddings. For a figure 

 and description of it, see Cole's New England Far- 

 mer, Vol. Ill, No. 4, Feb. 15, 1851, page 59. From 

 seeds received from Paris, under the nam'S of 

 Patagonian squash, I raised a fruit exactly like 

 the custard squash in form and size, but of a dark 

 green color externally and entirely worthless as an 

 article of food. Nevertheless I infer that the cus- 

 tard squash is merely an improved variety from 

 the same original stock. 



The fruits belonging to this second group pro- 

 bably originated in the eastern and central parts of 

 the two Americas. They were cultivated by the In- 

 dians,and were found here in their gardens and fields 

 by Europeans on the first settlement of the country. 

 Pumpkins, or bell-shaped squashes (as New Eng- 

 enders would now call them), were found as far 

 north as Saco, by Champlain, in 1G05 and 1606. A 

 similar variety was cultivated by the Iroquois In- 

 dians, and still bears their name in France. Pump- 

 kins were found by Raleigh's Colony among the In- 

 dians in North Carolina, and by early voyagers in the 

 West Indies. There are indigenous kinds in Brazil ; 

 and we have seen that even Patagonia has added 

 another to the common stock. Cultivation has 

 doubtless improved their qualities, and has caused 

 them to sport in numerous varieties, so that it is 

 now difficult, if not impossible, to determine which 

 of the known kinds are typical species, and which 

 are mere varieties. 



A third group remains to be described. The 

 representatives of it are the CucwrbUa Melopepo, 

 verrucosa, and ovifera, of Linnaeus. It includes all 

 those kinds called in New England Summer 

 Squashes, becuase they are eaten only during the 

 summer, while they are soft and tender, and in an 

 unripe state. These are the only two Squashes, if 

 regard be had to the origin of the name, derived 

 from the language of the Massachusetts Indians, 

 by whom, according to Roger Williams, this kind 

 . of fnut was called " Askuiasquash, which the Eng- 

 lish from them call Squashes." From the same 

 authority, and from other sources, we learn that 

 the Indians of New England cultivated this kind 

 of fruit or vegetable, and used it for food ; that 

 some of their squashes were "of the bigness of ap- 

 ples, of several colors," while others are represented 

 by Champlain, as being considerably larger, turbi- 

 nated,^and more or less puckered on the margin, 

 and of the same form as that which in France is 

 Called Bonnet de prctre, probably the prototype of 

 our Scalloped Squash, or Cucurbita melopepo. — 

 Bartram found a squash vine growing wild in the 

 interior of East Florida, climbing to the tops of the 

 trees, and bearing little yellow squashes of the 



form and size of an orange. * Mr. Nuttall informs 

 us, that the warted squash, Cucurbita verrucosa, 

 was " cultivated by the Indians of the Missouri to 

 its sources." It has generally been supposed, on 

 the authority of Linnaeus, that the Egg Squash, 

 Cucurbita ovifera, was a native of Astrachian in 

 Tartary. On turning to the account given of it by Dr. 

 Lorche, from whem Linnaeus received his speci- 

 mens, I find it included in a list of plants, not 

 natives of the vicinity of Astrachan, but cultivated 

 only in gardens, where it is associated with such 

 exotics as Indian corn or maize, with which it was 

 probably introduced directly or indirectly from 

 America. We also learn from Lorche that this 

 species varied in form, being sometimes pear- 

 shaped ; that it was sometimes variegated in color 

 with green and white ; and that the shell served 

 instead of little boxes. Here we have plainly in- 

 dicated the little gourd-like, hard-shelled, and 

 variegated squashes, that are often cultivated as 

 ornamental plants. For further account of the 

 Squashes of the North American Indians, Wood's 

 "New England Prospect," Josseiyn's "Rarities," 

 and Vander Donck's " Description of the New 

 Netherlands," may be consulted. From these and 

 similar authorities, we conclude that Summer 

 Squashes were originally natives of America, 

 where so many of them were found in use by the 

 Indians, when the country began to be settled by 

 Europeans. 



The Summer Squashes, like the plants belonging 

 to the second group, have acutely five-lobed, rough 

 leaves, and large yellow flowers, a clavated five- 

 angled and five-furrowed fruit stem, and a deci- 

 duous stile. Their s?eds also resemble those of 

 common pumpkins and winter squashes, but are 

 smaller and thinner; some of them are runners 

 and climbers, others have a dwarf erect habit, and 

 hence are sometimes called "bush squashes." — 

 They differ from all the foregoing kinds in having 

 when ripe a hard and woody rind or shell to the 

 fruit, with a slimy and fibrous pulp, which when 

 dry becomes a mere stringy and spongy mass. — 

 Hence, these fruits are. only eaten while they still 

 remain tender and succulent, and never in a ripe 

 state. On account of their woody shells, they are 

 sometimes mistaken for andmisqalled gourds, from 

 which they are not.only distinguished by their ova) 

 and thin seeds, but by the largeness and yellow 

 color of their flowers, those of gourds being small- 

 er and white, and by their deeply lobed and rough 

 leaves, those of gourds being entire, or at most 

 only slightly angular and downy. 



Under the name of Cucurbita melopepo is to be 

 included what in New England is called Scalloped 

 Squash, and in the Middle and Southern States, 

 Cymlings; perhaps the Patty-pan Squash is anoth- 

 er synonymefor the same. This melapepo is a very , 

 broad and thin or compressed fruit, with scallop 

 edges, and more or less warted surface ; it measures 

 often ten or eleven inches in transverse diameter, 

 and three to four from stem to blossom. It varies in' 

 form, being sometimes much thicker, and more or 

 less turbinated or top shaped,when it takes the name 

 of Bonnet de pietre or priest's cap ; perhaps this is 

 really its original form. Other varieties nearly 

 round, are sometimes seen. 



The Cucurbcta verrucosa is the cucumber-shaped 

 warted squash, generally with a slightly curved 

 neck. In the West Indies there is a much larger 

 oblong, ovoid squash, with a somewhat warted sur- 

 face, which is also referred to the Cucurbita verrv^ 



