AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
289 
1883.] 
Gourds and their Uses. 
Europeans apply the term gourd to the 
plants here known as squashes, pumpkins, 
etc. The name is properly restricted in this 
country to those plants the fruit of which 
has a thick, woody, hard shell, and a spongy, 
worthless pulp. The gourd belongs to a dif¬ 
ferent genus, Lagenaria (the diminutive of 
Lagena, the Latin word for bottle) from that 
Fig. 1.— THE DIPPEll-GOURD. 
of the squash and pumpkin, Cucurbita. The 
vines of the gourd are slender, and very vig¬ 
orous growers, climbing and rambling to the 
distance of 20 feet or more. The large, 
roimdish leaves are downy, and, especially 
when bruised, give off a heavy odor, which 
some call “musky.” The flowers are white, 
and as in the related squashes, melons, etc., 
the sexes are separate. The fruit is downy 
at first, and quite tender, but as it increases 
in size, it becomes smooth, with a hard shell. 
The seeds are long and narrow, and have a 
raised margin. There is some doubt as to 
the native country of the gourd; though it 
was cultivated in the warmer parts of this 
continent soon after America was discovered, 
it has not been found here as a native plant, 
and the evidence strongly points to Southern 
Asia and to Africa as the original home of 
the gourd. Though there is but one species 
(L. vulgaris), it has produced a wonderful 
variety in the shapes and sizes of its fruit. 
The variety called “ Hercules Club,” a long, 
club-shaped fruit, five feet or more long, and 
four or five inches through, is sometimes 
called by the absurd name of ‘ ‘ California 
Cucumber.” It is merely a curiosity, though 
this and other varieties of the gourd have 
been used when very young as pickles, being 
a mere spongy substance to hold vinegar. 
Some of the varieties are really useful, and 
before the days of tinware peddlers, the 
plants were often cultivated by frugal far¬ 
mer’s wives for the fruit, which they con¬ 
verted into various domestic utensils, and 
sometimes into ornaments. One of the 
most useful forms is the Dipper-gourd, in 
which the smaller end, or handle, is some¬ 
times curved, as in fig. 1, but quite as often it 
is straight. The shell of this gourd, when a 
large opening is made in one side, and the 
contents removed, forms a dipper, very use¬ 
ful on washing days and at soap-making 
times. When thoroughly cleansed and soak¬ 
ed, to remove all taste, it is used at the water- 
pail. When this gourd is sawn in two, just 
above its largest part, the lower half makes 
a dish which may be used for soap and to 
hold various other articles; the upper por¬ 
tions. when the neck is straight, will serve 
for a funnel. A small variety of the Dipper- 
gourd was formerly in some localities used as 
a powder-horn. The Bottle-gourd, fig. 2, 
constricted just above the middle, with the 
larger portion below, is a most useful variety. 
It is in common cultivation in Texas and 
Northern Mexico, where the travel is mainly 
on horseback, to furnish water-bottles. An 
opening is made at the stem end, and the 
contents removed by the use of a stick or 
wire. Pebbles with water are put in and 
violently shaken, to remove any adhering 
matters. After this is soaked in water, with 
frequent changes, to remove all taste, it 
forms the favorite water-bottle of the trav¬ 
eler. The opening is stopped by a corn-cob, 
and a strip of buck-skin around the waist of 
the gourd allows it to be hung at the horn of 
the saddle. This variety of gourd is also cut 
to form useful dishes, of various kinds. 
Other varieties produce a fruit without a 
neck, but of a more or less depressed globu¬ 
lar form. These vary in size, the fruit of 
some holding but a pint or so, while the kind 
known in some of the Western States as the 
“Sugar-trough Gourd,” grows to an enor¬ 
mous size, sometimes holding as much as ten 
gallons, though the average is four or five 
gallons. The shells of these are very thick 
and strong, and serve a variety of uses. If 
a bail of strong wire be attached, they make 
light and serviceable buckets, and may be 
converted into boxes and receptacles of 
various kinds. In early times the shells were 
used in collecting the sap in maple-sugar 
making, whence the name, “ Sugar-trough,” 
as applied to this variety. Gourds, like others 
of the family, need hot weather, and should 
not be planted until the soil is well warmed. 
As plants of this family hybridize and cross 
more readily than most others, we should 
not grow gourds near squashes or melons. 
The most effectual method we have found 
for preserving peas from withering or dry¬ 
ing up in a drouth, is to mulch them thick¬ 
ly with coarse hay or straw, to a width 
of at least two feet on each side of the row. 
Our garden soil is a fine, porous gravel, 
and unless the season is cool and moist, the 
pea vines dry up so badly as to produce little 
fruit. Mulching heavily is consequently a 
necessity in order to save them. By doing 
this, we have obtained as good crops as when 
May, June, and July were cool and rather 
rainy. It is not necessary to bush dwarf 
peas. Still, when exposed to a strong wind, 
they will sometimes blow down, and then 
the further advantage of their being 
mulched is that the pods are kept clean and 
dry, and escape being mildewed. It is an 
excellent thing also to mulch both pole and 
bush beans, melons, squashes and cucumbers 
in the same way. 
Points on Pear Culture. 
BY A PRACTICAL GROWER. 
The cultivation, until the trees have come 
into their second or third year of bearing, 
may consist in growing corn the first year, 
as it affords considerable protection to the 
young trees from the heat of the first sum¬ 
mer. After this some hoed crop, like pota¬ 
toes, peas, or beans, may be grown ; and it 
should be fertilized with well-rotted stable 
manure, and thoroughly cultivated. This 
keeps the trees supplied with food, and the 
soil loose and friable. Hot, violent manures 
should never be applied to an orchard, and 
especially to one of pears. Use an ordinary one- 
horse cultivator and a good one-horse plow. 
A good workman will go deep enough with 
such a plow, and not injure the roots, as he 
would with a large one. By all means be 
sure of the efficiency and carefulness of a man 
before admitting him into the orchard with a 
horse and cultivator or plow. The damage a 
poor man did in one of our orchards in less 
than half a day would not have been covered 
by two or three months of his wages. A five- 
year-old pear tree in vigorous health, is worth 
fully ten dollars, and when a dozen such 
are injured, the aggregate loss is quite an 
item. The horse should be a careful one, 
accustomed to such work. 
Owing to other pressing duties, it occa¬ 
sionally happens that a heavy growth of fall 
grass is permitted in the orchard, after the 
vegetable crops do not longer need cultiva¬ 
tion. It should not remain all winter, especi¬ 
ally around the trees, as it affords snug re¬ 
treats for rabbits, field mice, etc., which too 
frequently gnaw the bark of the young trees, 
sometimes completely girdling them, and 
causing death. To prevent this, in the late 
fall, with a hoe or strong iron rake, remove 
the grass from around each tree for two or 
three feet, and to make a further protection, 
ridge up around the trees with the plow; 
this ridge can be easily plowed or cultivated 
down in the spring to give a level surface to 
the orchard. 
Planting hoed and well-manured crops be¬ 
tween the trees, supplies them with all the 
matter needed during the first few years. 
When the trees get too large to make it either 
desirable or profitable to grow such crops, 
manure in some form must be specially ap¬ 
plied to make up the deficiency. Bone dust 
makes a valuable dressing, as does well-rotted 
stable manure, which, no doubt, is the most 
easily obtainable on the farm. There is 
nothing which equals wood ashes, and we at¬ 
tribute much of our success in raising heavy- 
crops and splendid specimens of pears to the 
liberal use of this fertilizer. Not only did we 
use all that we could save on the place, but 
bought liberally at good prices. If enough 
cannot be secured to put over the whole sur¬ 
face, spread the ashes around each tree. The 
best time to apply the manure is in late 
fall or early spring, after the plowing and 
before the harrowing. If there is an undue 
growth of wood and foliage, diminish the 
supply of manure; and it is sometimes well to 
put the land down to clover (never to Tim¬ 
othy, wheat, rye, or other uncultivated 
grain), and let it remain one or two years in 
sod. It can then be plowed, and planted 
with corn to break up the sod, and the ground 
either used for vegetables, or kept fallow. 
