8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan, 7, 1899. 
stood snapping their beaks in anticipation oi the ex- 
pectant bites of beef — all within a range of 4 or 5ft. 
With the supper over and good nature diffusing 
everj^thing, the dog would rub noses with the deer, 
while the white cat Avould roll at her feet in a seductive 
way, inviting her caresses. At all times the deer's great- 
est affection was for the cat; exactly as a mother cat 
washes her kitten, the deer would lick her protege until 
it was wet, the cat, in evident satisfaction, turning from 
side to side so that no spot would be missed. 
Within a few weeks Nannie grew bold enough to ven- 
ture over the fence and shyly investigate .surroundings. 
She soon found a herd of cows and would go ofl' with 
them at night, returning in the morning. As she ap- 
proached near home, she would browse along with a su- 
preme indifference to the pleading calls of "Come, Nan- 
nie; come, Nannie." That she heard the calls was not 
questioned, and while she might be close by the gate, 
she would not jump till we would hide ourselves and she 
would think no one present. Whether her jiunping 
place was her secret or not, it is hard to say. Once 
within the yard, her hearing became excellent, and she 
wovild come running for her breakfast. During all these 
weeks Nannie had been petted and fondled so much that 
when her owner was taken with a dangerous illness, and 
no attention other than her food was given to her for 
three weeks, she grew homesick and goodnaturedly 
sauntered back to her old home, a distance of several 
miles, where she spoiled a fine potato patch in a very short 
time. AIiNNiE Moore-Willson. 
KlSSIMMEE, Fla. 
A rich bed of compost from a spent hot-bed was pre- 
pared, which was 4ft. wide, soft, long and about 6in. in 
depth. Here, under the fostering care of Prof. May- 
nard, the seeds germinated, the vine grew vigorously 
and the squash lifted in a most satisfactory manner. 
Never before has the development of a squash been ob- 
served more critically or by a greater number of people. 
Many thousands of men, women and children from all 
flower upon the stigma of the former under favorable 
circumstances. The stigmatic surface must be in a 
proper condition to retain and develop the pollen, which 
must also be in a perfect state. Bright, warm weather 
will doubtless aid in. the process, though much remains 
to be observed in regard to it. The pollen grains of the 
squash are large and rough, and of a spherical form, and 
consist of an outer and an inner coating of membrane 
FIG. 2, EXHIBITING THE PROPAGATING PIT WITH 
ROOT OF A SECOND VINE ATTACHED 
THE PRESSURE 
A, the box in wHch the squash vvas placed. 
B, the lever to support the weights. 
C, the root from which the principal vine grew. 
THE SQUASH IN HARNESS, AND THE SOUASH 
TO A MERCURIAL GAUGE TO SHOW 
OF THE SAP. 
D, the toot of the vine, which was cut off when eight weeks old 
and connected with a gauge. 
E, Mercurial gauge. 
S, scale to indicate the variation.s in tlie position o[ tile lever. 
A Squash in Harness* 
Reference was made the other day by Mr. Chas. H. 
Ames to the experiments conducted at the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College, at Amherst, some years ago, to de- 
termine the expansive force of a growing squash. Presi- 
dent Henry M. Goodell has kindly sent us a copy of the 
report made at the time by President W. S. Clark, from 
which we give the following description of the famous 
squash in harness : 
The following considerations suggested the idea of ex- 
perimenting with this plant: 
First — It is a well-known fact that beans, acorns and 
other seeds often lift comparatively heavy masses of 
earth in forcing their way up to the light in the process 
of germination. 
Secondl}^ — Wc have all heard how common mush- 
rooms have displaced flagging-stones, many j'cars since 
in Basingstoke, and more recently in Worcester, Eng- 
land. In the latter case, only a few weeks ago, a gentle- 
man, noticing that a stone in the walk near his resi- 
dence had been disturbed, went for the police, under the 
impression that burglars were preparing some plot 
against him. -Upon turning up the stone, which weighed 
8olbs., the rogues were discovered in the shape of three 
giant mushrooms. 
Thirdly — Bricks and stones are often displaced by the 
growth of the roots of shade trees in streets. Cellar and 
other walls are also frequently injured in a similar way. 
Fourthly — There is a common belief that the growing 
roots of trees frequently rend asunder rocks, on which 
they stand, by penetrating and expanding within their 
crevices. 
Having never heard of any attempt to measure the ex- 
Fig. 1 represents two nodes of the squash vine. A is the petiole 
of a leaf, showing vertical strias. B, a staminate flower on a long 
peduncle. C, a branching tendril exhibiting the mode of attach- 
ment to a support, and the double reversed spiral of the portion 
between the support and the base of the tendril, by which all the 
branches of a tendril are made to bear their share of the strain, if 
they secure an attachment; and by which also great elasticitv is 
given to the tendril, and the liability of rupture largely diminished. 
D, nodal roots. E, a pistillate flower with a short peduncle. F, a 
lateral branch of the vine. G, a tendril which, having failed in 
finding a support, has coiled upon itself and turned back toward 
the older portion of the vine. 
pansive force of a growing plant, we determined to ex- 
periment in this direction. 
At first we thought of trymg the expansive force of 
some small, hard, green fruit, such as hickory nut or a 
pear, but the expansion was so slow and the attachment 
of the fruit to the tree so fragile, that this idea was aban- 
doned. The squash, growing on the ground, with great 
rapidity, and to an enormous size, seemed on the whole 
the best fruit for the experiment. 
Accordingly, seeds of the mammoth yellow Chili hav- 
ing been obtained from Mr, J. J. H, Gregory, of Mar- 
blehead, they were planted on the first of July in one of 
the propagating pits of the Durfee Plant-house, where 
the temperature and moisture could be easily controlled. 
classes of societ}', of various nationalities, and from all 
quarters of the earth, visited it. 
Mr. D. P. Penhallow watched with it several days and 
nights, making hourly observations; Prof. H. W. Parker 
was moved to write a poem about it, and Prof. J. H. 
Seelye declared that he positively stood in awe of it. 
Curious facts were noted in regard to all parts of the 
plant, but among the most surprising were those relat- 
ing to the development of the roots. Growing under 
the most favorable circumstances, they attained a num- 
ber and an aggregate length almost incredible. The pri- 
mary root from the seed, after penetrating the earth 
about 4in., terminated abruptly and threw out adven- 
titious branches in all directions. In order to ob- 
tain an accurate knowledge of their development, the en- 
tire bed occupied by them was saturated with water, and 
after fifteen hours numerous holes were bored through 
the plank bottom, and the earth thus washed away. 
After many hours of the most patient labor, the entire 
system of roots was cleaned and spread out on the floor 
of a large room, where they were carefully measured. 
FIG. 3. 
The main branches extended from 12 to ISft,, and their 
total length, including all subdivisions, was more than 
2,000ft. 
At every node or joint of the vine was also produced a 
root. One of these nodal roots was washed out and 
found to be 4ft. long and to have 480 branches, averag- 
ing, with their branchlcts, a length of 3oin., making a 
total of more than 1,200ft. As there were seventy nodal 
roots, there must have been more than fifteen miles in 
leng-th on the entire vine. There wel-fi .certainly more 
than 8o,oooft., and of these so.oooft. must have been pro- 
duced at the rate of i.oooft. or more per day. 
Now, it has been said that corn may be heard to groAV 
in a still, warm night, and it has been proved that a root 
of corn will elongate lin, in fifteen minutes, But here 
are i2,oooin. of increase in twenty-four hours. What 
lively times in the soil where such vital force is at work! 
The wonder is that we do not hear the building of these 
roots as it goes on. 
But in addition to the movements caused by the in- 
crease of the roots' among the particles of the soil, we 
should remember that^ solution, chemical affinity, dif- 
fusion and capillarity, as well as the absorption of the 
feeding rootlets, are incessantly at work beneath the sur- 
face of the silent earth. 
With what amazement should we behold the develop- 
ment of a crop upon a fertile field, if we could but see 
with otir eyes the things which are known to transpire! 
The flowers of the squash are arranged in regular suc- 
cession, one at each node. A female flower is usually 
succeeded by four males, so that squashes would be pro- 
duced at every fifth node, if all should set, w^hich, how- 
exer, never happens. The impregnation of the ovules 
within the ovary of the female fiower requires the deposi- 
tion of pollen grains from the anther cells of (he male 
Blied \vith a proto-glasmic fluid. In the outer coating 
is a minute orifice, tlirough which, when moistened by 
the saccharine secretion of the stigma, the inner coat- 
ing protrudes as a microscopic structureless tube which 
pushes its way into the tissues of the style and ovary until 
it reaches the embryo sac of an ovule, which may then 
become a perfect seed. This contract of the pollen tubes 
with the ovules is essential to the setting of every squash. 
The transfer of the pollen grains to the stigmas is usu- 
ally accomplished by insects, which fly from flower to 
flower in pursuit of food. It may also be done artificially, 
and there is reason to believe that the crop of squashes, 
melons and cucumbers might often be largely incrcasecl 
by attention to this matter in out-door cultivation. When 
.grown under glass, fertilization must always be effected 
by artificial means. [See Fig. i.] 
The pistillate, or female flower, ah fh& tw&iaty-first 
node of our growing vine, was carefully impregnated 
with pollen on the' first of Angnst last. Tlie young 
squash immediately began to enlarge, and on the 15th 
of the same month measured 22in. in circumference; on 
the J6th, 24in., and on the 17th. 27, Though the rind of 
the young fruit was very soft, it was now determined to 
confine it in such a way as to test its expansive power. 
In doing this, great care was taken to preserve the 
health and soundness of every part of the squash, and to 
expose at least one-half of its surface to the air and the 
hght. 
The apparattts for testing its growing force consisted 
of a frame or bed of 7in. boards, ift. long. These 
were arranged in a radial manner, like the spokes ort 
the lower half of a wheel, their inner edges being turned 
toward the central axis. These pieces were held firmly 
in place by t^'o end-boards uin. square, to the lower 
half of which they were secured by nails and iron rods. 
A hemi-ellipsoidal cavity, abont sin. deep in the center 
and Sin. long, was cut from the inner edges of the seven 
boards, and in this the squash was carefully deposited, 
the stem and vine being properly protected by blocks of 
wood from injury by compression. Over the sqttash was 
placed a semi-cylindrical iTaFness or basket of strap iron, 
firm.ly rivetted together. The meshes between the bands, 
which crossed each other at right angles, were about 
ij^in, square. The harness was I2in. long and the same 
in width, so that when placed over the squash it just 
filled the space between the end-boards. Upon the top 
of the harness and parallel with the axis of the cylinder 
and the squash, was fastened a bar of iron with a knife- 
edge to serve as the fulcrum of a lever for the support 
of the weights by which the expansive force was to be 
measiu-ed. At first an iron bar lin. square Avas used 
for a lever; fhm a larger bar of steel, then a lever of 
chestnut plank, then one of seasoned white oak plank, 
and finally one of chestnut 5x6in. ami git. long; but even 
this required to be strengthened by a plate of iron 4in. 
wide by J^in. thick and 5ft. in length. The fulcrum for 
the leve-1* was also ' rene-wecl from time to time, as. the 
weight was increased, [See Fig. 2.] Ttie following ta- 
ble shows the weight of iron Hfted by the squash in the 
course of its deveh^prnent 7 
Pounds. 
Aug.- m 60 
22 69 
23- - - 91 
24 162 
25 225 
26 277 
27 356 
31 500 
Sept. II 1,100 
13 1,200 
14 1,300 
15 ■ - 1-400 
27 1,700 
30 3,ors 
Oct. 3 2, lis 
12.' , , , . . 2,500 
18. ..... . ......... 3.120 
24 4.120 
31 - 5.. 000 
The last weight was not clearly raised, though it was 
carried ten days, on account of the failure of the harness 
