PUMPKIN. 
87 
PUMPKIN. 
C/troo ille ou Potiron. Cucurbila pepo. 
VARIETIES. 
Finest Cheese, or Family. I Connecticut Field. 
Mammoth, or Spanish. j White Bell. 
This plant is highly deserving of cultivation, particularly 
in new settlements ; the large sorts are profitable for cattle, 
as some of the mammoth tribe have been known to weigh 
upward of two hundred pounds each ; the other kinds are 
also very productive, and may be raised on any waste land, 
provided it will admit of digging small spots, of the dimen- 
sions of one or two feet, every ten oi twelve feet, for the 
hills, and the residue of the ground be unencumbered for 
the plants to run on. They are generally raised, on culti- 
vated farms, between hills of Indian Corn, and may be 
planted in the garden or open field, in May and June, in hills 
eight or ten feet apart, with three or four seed in each hill. 
One quart of Field Pumpkin seed will plant from five to 
six hundred hills. An ounce of the finer kinds will plant from 
fifty to eighty hills. 
Pumpkins are not so tenacious of a particular soil as either 
Melons or Cucumbers, but in other respects are cultivated in 
the same manner, only that in raising them on a large scale 
the ground may be prepared with a plough, and afterward, 
as the weeds advance, the plough and harrow may be used 
between the plants until they begin to run, which will save 
much labour. 
The finest quality of Pumpkins are known to make good 
pies, and may also, after being boiled, be worked up with 
wheaten flour into bread, for which purpose they are fully 
equal to Indian meal. The knowledge of this fact may prove 
advantageous to farmers living at a distance from cities, as 
they may find a market for their grain or meal readier than 
for their Pumpkins. 
