AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
94 
observes, “so generally is it relished, and so nutritious is it accorsited, that, 
on many tables, it now appears almost every day in the year.” 
An Essay on the Solatium Tuberosum , by H. C. Worsham, from the Phila¬ 
delphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences , gives the following sum¬ 
mary view of the excellent qualities of this superlative root:—“Having its 
origin in a warm climate, it was supposed to be intolerant of cold, and upon 
that account incapable of cultivation in a more northern clime. But expe¬ 
rience has shown the contrary, and the potato is naturalized almost in every 
region. With the lower classes of people, it is one of the greatest blessings 
which the soil produces, forming 4 flour without a mill, and bread without an 
oven and, at all seasons of the year, an agreeable, wholesome dish, with¬ 
out expensive condiments. What resources does the potato present to us? 
Its stalk, considered as a textile plant, furnishes in Austria a sort of flax— 
when burned, it yields much potash—-its apples, when ripe and crushed, fer¬ 
ment, and give spirits by distillation—its tubercles, made into a pulp, are a 
substitute for soap, in bleaching. Cooked by steam, the potato is a most 
healthy food. By different manipulations it furnishes two kinds of flour, a 
gruel and a parenchyma, which may be applied to increase the bulk of bread 
made from grain. Treated chemically, it is converted into beer, vinegar, 
spirits, &c.” 
PUMPKIN. 
Cucurbita pepo. — Courge , Fr.— 2 Kurils , Ger. 
The pumpkin is a native of India. Loudon says there are six species in 
cultivation, but gives no description of them. Russell’s Catalogue enume¬ 
rates the following varieties: 
Finest yellow family pumpkin, 
Connecticut field, 
Large cheese, 
Mammoth, (which .eve grown to 226 
lbs. weight ,) 
Seven years, (a fine sort to keep.) 
Pumpkins will grow on any kind of soil, which is proper for head-crops, 
but the land cannot be made too rich for them. The Farmer's Assistant 
thinks they will grow better, when planted by themselves, than when raised, 
as usual, with Indian corn. The hills, in such case, should stand about 
seven feet apart each way, and a number of seeds should be planted in each 
hill, to make allowance for what may be destroyed by insects. It will be 
well, however, to protect them by frames, covered by gauze, as directed p. 
56, under the article Cucumber. 
Preservation .—Pumpkins may be kept in & cellar, for this purpose, a con¬ 
siderable part of the winter; but the cellar must not be too warm ; and car* 
