100 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 17, 1857. 
MAMMOTH PUMPKINS AND THEIR USES. 
Some short time since I saw in The Cottage Gardener 
a notice of a Citrouille that was five feet in circumference, 
and regarded as very large. I have just cut one measuring 
upwards of seven feet round, and weighing upwards of one 
hundredweight and a half. From the same plant I cut one a 
month since weighing eighty pounds, and at various times a 
large number of smaller ones from twelve to twenty pounds. 
The only manure used was a small quantity of fowls’ dung 
washed into the ground from time to time. 
My object in writing-this is to call, attention to the uses 
of this vegetable, which, so far from being as useless as 
ordinarily represented, we regard as one of the most valu¬ 
able in our garden. Pumpkin pie we have not much faith 
in. Preserved Pumpkin, according to a recipe in a late 
number of The Cottage Gardener, my wife says will not 
keep. Our mode of using these mammoths is to cut off 
five or six pounds in pieces of a convenient size, boil them 
until soft, then take off the peel, which is very thin, press j 
out the water in a colander, and mash in a saucepan with a j 
small piece of butter, some pepper and salt. Such are 
the directions I have received from the culinary authorities, 
and I can safely assert that, as thus prepared, it furnishes a j 
most valuable-table vegetable. The flavour may be judged 
from the fact that I have generally received applications 
for a fresh supply from those persons to whom I have given 
a piece. 
There is, perhaps, one drawback to their use, namely, that j 
after having been cut into, the Citrouille will not keep more | 
than three or four weeks, during which time it is difficult 
for a small family to dispose of 170 lbs.; but once give some 
with proper directions to your neighbours, and there will be 
found no difficulty in getting rid of an unlimited supply. 
I should also mention that the riper the fruit, when cooked 
in the manner recommended, the better, being firmer and 
less watery. 
Should any of the readers of The Cottage Gardener 
like to try the plant I have reserved the seeds of the largest, 
and shall be willing to distribute them as far as they go on 
receipt of stamps and directions.— W. B. Tegetmeier, Tot - 
ten ha m, N. 
METEOSIDEROS ROBUST A. 
Received from J. C. Bidwill, Esq., in 1815, 
from New Zealand, as Myrtus robust a. 
A handsome evergreen bush, with neat, op¬ 
posite, oval, fiat, emarginate leaves, and small 
clusters of rich crimson flowers, with long crimson 
stamens surrounding a cup-shaped, green, wavy 
disc. The foliage has a rich aromatic odour, but 
the flowers are scentless. 
It is said by Mr. Cunningham, who first de¬ 
scribed it, to be the llaiu of the New Zealanders, 
“ a noble tree, which not unusually attains the 
height of eighty feet. The wood is hard, close- 
grained, very durable, and hence admirably 
adapted for ships’ timbers and the construction 
of agricultural implements.” It, however, flowers 
abundantly in the greenhouse when not more 
than three feet high. 
A free-growing plant, which requires the pro¬ 
tection of the greenhouse in winter. It thrives 
in a mixture of sandy loam and peat in equal 
parts. It is increased by cuttings, and flowers 
freely in June. 
A handsome evergreen shrub for planting in a 
conservatory or growing in a greenhouse.—( Hor - 
ticultural Society's Journal.) 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 13. 
DRESDEN. 
From the capital of Prussia to that of Saxony 
is an exceedingly pleasant trip of 117 English 
miles; and though the trains usually occupy six 
hours in accomplishing the distance, it is rather 
an advantage than otherwise, as there is so much 
to observe by the way. The train carries us first 
through the circle of market gardens by which Berlin, like 
all large cities, is surrounded. The first week in August 
was the period at which I made the journey; and as we 
passed onwards among the fields we found the’harvest just 
commencing, while in some of the more favoured spots a 
second ci op of hay was being cut. In all the agricultural 
operations the women were taking quite as active a part as 
lliu IX 16 H. At about ton miles from Berlin we crossed tlie 
old battle-field of Uioss Bcoren, where in 1813 the Prussians 
gained a signal victory over the French; it is now under 
cultivation, and covered with a crop of Potatoes. The first 
thirty miles of country are remarkably flat, but there is a 
gradual impiovement in the soil, as is evidenced by the 
vaiious ciops. Ihere are no hedges to be seen, but the 
fields aie usually divided by a narrow trench, or more com¬ 
monly only by a line of turf. Many tracks of ground I 
noticed covered with a yellow species of Lupine, which, as it 
was in flower, had a beautiful appearance: on inquiry I 
learned that it was to be ploughed in as manure. I saw 
only a few sheep, and scarcely any cattle except the oxen 
drawing the waggons of corn or harnessed to the plough. 
Fir plantations often diversified the landscape or darkened 
the carriages as we passed through them. Near Jueterbog 
(about thirty-two niiles from Berlin) the country begins to 
assume a more undulating appearance, and the scenery is 
very similar to that of the South Downs in Kent and Sussex, 
one feature of difference, and almost the only one, being 
that the various roads leading from one town or village to 
another are usually planted with avenues of Poplars. At 
Pristewitz we passed through a tunnel 500 yards long — the 
only one on the line. The hills are higher at this point, 
and approach the railway more nearly, their southern slopes 
being covered with vineyards. These were the first I had 
ever seen; and I must confess that, though they present a 
