Squashes. How to grow them

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Introduction

The recent great increase in interest in squash cultivation, which has been promoted by the introduction of new varieties, has seemed to me to demand a more thorough and exhaustive treatment of the subject than is to be found in our present standard works on horticulture or agriculture. I am sustained in this position by the great number of questions propounded to me annually in the course of an extensive correspondence. To answer these questions; and to bring so delicious a vegetable as the squash into a more general and more successful cultivation, is the object of this treatise. The Squash family ( Gvr curbitacecB) have their habitat in the tropics and warmer portions of the temperate zones ; hence they require our hottest seasons to develop them in perfection. With the exception of the Vegetable Marrow, the squash family is almost unknown to our English cousins, as likewise is true of our corn and beans, for though the average temperature of the year is higher with them than with us, yet the extreme hot weather, which these vegetables require, is there wanting.

The introduction of the squash is a matter of the past half century ; until within that time, with the exception of the Crookneck, the pumpkins, yellow and black, or " nigger," were the only varieties cultivated. Though the appetite for squash appears to be in a considerable degree a matter of education, yet it is becoming more and more popular in the vicinity of the large cities of the North, where among vegetables, it now ranks next to the potato. 3 -■ -- ■

WHAT IS A SQUASH?

In many parts of the South and West, where the fall and winter squashes are not much cultivated, the term " Pumpkin " is used for all the running varieties of the squash or pumpkin family, with the exception of the " Cushaw " class, which includes varieties that are closely allied to the Crookneck. To clearly define what is meant by the word squash in contradistinction from the word pumpkin, as used among market-men, is no very easy matter, as all the varieties, with the exception of the Crooknecks, easily intercross with each other, and in the recently introduced Yokohama, I have reason to believe we have found the connecting link between the Crooknecks and other squashes, thus destroying the reputation which the Crooknecks had hitherto enjoyed of being the squashes of the squash family. Grouping all the running varieties together, we express the marketman's idea of a squash, as distinguished from a pumpkin, when we say that all varieties having soft or fleshy stems, either with or without a shell, and all varieties having a hard, woody stem, and without a shell, are squashes ; while all having a hard stem and a shell the flesh of which is not bitter, are pumpkins ; and all of this latter class, the flesh of which contains a bitter principle, are gourds. In a more general classification, all varieties having a hard shell, are gourds, and those without a shell, are squashes. I had an amusing instance under this system of classification in a lot of seed, ordered from France as " gourds ;" on examining them, I found that several of the kinds were varieties of our table squashes. Making a separate classification of the summer varieties, I define such to be squashes, in contradistinction from gourds, as are eatable at any period of their growth. It will be seen that the distinctions I make are more commercial than strictly scientific. What I aim at, is, to so define squashes, pumpkins, and gourds, that experienced market-men, seed-

SQUASHES, HOW TO GKOW THEM, ETC. 5

men, and new beginners, may meet pn common ground, and clearly understand each other when using these terms. In passing, I remark, that gourds are far more prolific than either squashes or pumpkins ; in some instances more than two score having been grown on a single vine.

SELECTII^G THE SOIL.

All of the family thrive best, other things equal, in a warm soil, which is a soil through which the roots can easily find their way. The Hubbard squash appears to attain to its highest development in regard to both yield and quahty in a soil, that, in addition to being warm, is also a strong soil. I would not advise planting in a clay soil, unless it be possible by thorough draining and high manuring, (for this purpose, long manure is better than fermented,) to make such soil light and porous. A drained meadow will often yield enormous squashes, if well manured, but they are apt to be very porous in their structure, of poor quality, and poor keepers.

Some years since I planted a piece of rich, black meadow to Hubbards, after manuring liberally in the hills. The result was a tremendous growth of vine, some of the leaves measuring twenty inches in diameter, while the ends of the runners, in their great vigor, lifted themselves by thousands two and three feet above the surface, and with their blunt, arched extremities, looked like a myriad of huge-winged serpents running a race. The squashes were of a light green color, very large and showy, but, when gathered, proved light in the handling, very porous in structure, cutting like punk, were very poor keepers, and coarse and watery in quality. Though such meadows are thoroughly underdrained, the squashes grown on them are light in proportion to their size, (which always insures poor quality and poor keeping,) unless the meadows have had abundance of sand and loam worked into them, thus adding the proper proportion of silica to the vegetable humus. Some years ago, when the Marrow squash was a novelty, bringing about 14.00 a hundred pounds, one of my townsmen raised some acres on a piece of drained meadow. Only a portion of the meadow had received a good dressing of sand ; here the squashes were of about the ordinary size, while on the remainder they grew " as big as barrels." He traded a part of the crop with a peddler for a lot of swine. "When the peddler called for the squashes, agreeable to instructions, the father being absent from town, his son showed him the smaller sized lot, saying that he had received directions to deliver them, as they were the best of the crop. But the peddler declared that, as he had supplied good pigs, he was entitled to good squashes, and would be put off with no trash. He therefore loaded his wagons with the " big as a barrel " lot, and left, for home. Before many days a friend called, and, with a laugh, asked if he had heard of the result of the squash investment. " There was'nt enough substance in them to hold together until he got home ; they were carried to market in a few days, and two tons out of five were rotten." If the soil be wet and cold, the growth of the vine is much retarded, and not only is the crop much lessened in size and weight, but at times this singular result is seen — the squash loses its normal form. I have seen a crop of Hubbards grown under such circumstances, all of which were nearly flat at each end, instead of having the elongations that belong to the normal form.

When two soils of equal natural strength, but one of them being more gravelly in its structure, are heavily and .equally manured, I have noticed, in several instances, that the more gravelly piece will give more squashes and less vine than the others.

Unlike some varieties of melons and cucumbers, squashes will do finely on freshly broken sod, which has the advantage (a great one in many localities) of being less infested with bugs, than old tillage soil. The practice of digging holes a foot or two in diameter in patches of turf in waste places, around hedges, or in corners of fields, which, after filling with manure, are planted to squashes, is but a waste of time ; the result is, a growth of vine of a few feet in length, the setting of squashes, and then both squash and vine become checked in their growth, as the roots of the vine make vain efibrts to penetrate a dense mass of hungry grass roots in search of food, the leaves gradually turn yellow, and before you know it, have entirely disappeared. By pulling on a dead vine, you drag out a half grown squash hidden among the grass.

If the sod abounds in the pest known by various names, as witch, twitch, or quack grass, there is some danger that the grass will overrun the vines. If the grass has not been quite thoroughly torn up by the cultivator before the vines begin to run, better plow up at once, as the crop will be nearly a failure. Hoeing up and hand pulling the grass will practically amount to nothing under such circumstances, as I once learned to my sorrow. K the sod is not very badly run to twitch, there is but little danger, provided the cultivator is faithfully used from the time the vines appear above ground until the runners begin to push.

THE MANUKE.

The squash vine is a rank feeder. Night soil, barn manure, wood ashes, guano, muscle mud, hen manure, superphosphate of lime, pig manure, sheep manure, fish guano, fish waste — either of these alone, or in compost, is greedily devoured by this miscellaneous feeder. The great error in the cultivating of the squash is to starve it. By many cultivators, when every other crop has had its share, and the manure heap has been used up, a piece of sod is broken for the squash patch, about the only food depended on for the crop being what it can gather from the decay of the fresh turned sod. Under such treatment, the crop is small, the squashes small, and the general result unsatisfactory. Another error of the opposite extreme is one often committed by market gardeners, who have learned that no paying crop can be grown without liberal feeding — who give all the food necessary, but do not allow sufficient room for the extra growth of vines under such culture. Of this latter error I propose to treat under the head of "Planting the Seed."

Night soil should be used, mixed with muck and other manures, in the form of a compost. It may, however, be applied fresh, directly to the hill, if sufficient care is taken to mix it thoroughly with the soil. Some years ago, I broke up a piece of land in the spring of the year for squashes, and the location being difficult of access, I used night soil from a vault on the premises, pouring about two bushels into each hill. After we had finished manuring, I sent my hired man, stout Jim Lane, around with his hoe to mix it thoroughly with the soil in the hills. When Jim came back, saying the thing had been thoroughly done, I send him around a second time, to give it another mixing up, and, on hi^ return, sent him around the third time, though the old fellow assured me that it couldn't be improved on, and I had no doubt he had done his work well each time, but, with two bushels of fresh night soil in each, I knew that all the danger lay in one direction. The result was, the vines came up a rich, dark-green, and took right hold of their food.

With the exception of barn manure, it is necessary that each of the manures mentioned above should be well mixed in the soil when used in the hill. When wood ashes are used, they should not be mixed with other manure, until just as it is applied, as this would injure the value of the manure, by setting free the ammonia. When I have used ashes in connection with Peruvian guano, I have been in the habit of putting layer with layer in a wheelbarrow, hurrying it to the hills, and then covering it immediately with soil. Even with all possible hurrying of matters, the strong, pungent smell of the escaping ammonia could be readily detected.

Wood ashes, mixed with fresh night soil in the hill, is considerably worse than nothing. Some years ago, aiming to grow some extra large specimens, I selected a favorable location, opened several large hills, and poured into each about a couple of bushels of night soil Into this I stirred a liberal quantity of wood ashes, acting on the theory that its alkaline properties would serve as a corrective of the rank crudeness of the night soil. I pulled the earth over the hills, and planted my seed. The seed vegetated, but the young plants soon came to a stand still. I applied a liltle fresh soil to the roots, thinking the manure below might be too strong for tbe young rootlets to absorb. Still, there was no growth ; soon the leaves turned yellow, and the plants died. I opened one hill to find the cause, and there I found cause enough in the presence of a mass having about the size and appearance of an ordinary grindstone ; the ashes and night soil in combination had made a hard cement, and the entire contents of each hill could be rolled out in one cake.

HOW MUCH MANURE?

Those who, under the stimulus of a city market, follow market gardening, soon learn one truth that may be set down as an axiom for successful gardening, viz. : that other things equal, it is the last cord of manure that gives the profits. There is but very little danger of giving too much manure to your squash ground, provided the hills are made at a proper distance apart, and the vines are not too numerous.

No prudent man will plant squashes with less than four 1* cords of barn manure, or its equivalent, to the acre ; this is the minimum, — when squashes are raised as a profitable crop, from six to twenty cords of good manure per acre are used.

Twenty cords -to the acre will, I doubt not, sound like a large story to many readers, and it is a large quantity, even for the high culture required for successful market gardening, but I liave seen that quantity applied, and once, in my own practice, applied thirty-five cords to a little over two acres of squash land, where the soil had been over-cropped, (or rather under-fed,) for many years before I came into possession of it. Let us look a moment into that axiom — " the profits come out of the last cord of manure." With four cords of good barn manure to the acre, on good soil, the average yield would be about four tons of Hubbard squashes ; with six cords of manure, the average yield would be about six tons ; with eight cords, the yield would be from seven to eight tons. These are real results, that I have had in my own experience. Here it will be seen that we gain about a ton of squashes with each e:^tra cord of manure ; in other words, by investing eight or ten dollars, we treble or quadruple our money in six month's time — quite a profitable bank of deposit is the manure heap ! ISTot only is the crop heavier, but the squashes are larger, and, therefore, far more marketable and, usually, at a higher figure, often readily bringing |5 or $10 a ton advance in the market. Nor is this all; the virtues of the ma"nure are not exhausted the first season ; but the ground is left in higher condition for the crops of the next season. Again, let it be noted that the cost of cultivation of a poor crop is just as great as the cultivation of a large one, while the promise of a large crop is a great cheer amid the labor of caring for it. The strongest argument for the liberal manuring of this and all other crops is, that a certain portion of the crop but pays for the cost of producing it, and that the profits can only come after the cost of production is paid.

The cost of producing an acre of squashes, independent of the cost of the manure, will be :

Plowing % 6.00

Distributing Manure 5.00

Cultivating in Manure 3.00

Seed 4.00

Mixing Manure in Hills 3.00

Planting Seed 1.00

Three Cultivatings in course of season 5.25

Two Hoeings. 3.00

Lime and Liming 1.50

Hand-weeding of large, scattered Weeds, after* Runners liave

started off 1.00

Gathering of Crop into Heaps ready for Carting 2.00

Interest on Land 9.00

Total, exclusive of Manure $44.75

Add cost of four Cords of Manure, at $8.00, landed in Field 32.00

Cost of Guano, or some equivalent, to mix in Hills 5.00

Total cost of Crop when four Cords of Manure are used per Acre. .$81.75

Now, as we stated above, the average yield of Hubbard squashes, under such manuring, would be about four tons. The average price of Hubbard squashes in the Boston markets, for the past four years, of such a size as four cords of manure to the acre would produce, has been about 125 per ton. At this rate, the returns (not deducting the cost of marketing) per acre would be $100, from which deducting the cost of production, $81.75, we have $18.25 as the profits on the acre.

K, now, by adding two cords more of manure, or $16.00, to the cost of production, we obtain two tons more squashes, then the income is increased $50, (this supposes that we get but the same price per ton, but, in fact, I get from $5 to $10 more per ton for such squashes,) and we have a profit of $52.25. The two cords of manure extra have nearly trebled the profits ; in other words, by adding about one-six to the cost of production, we treble the profits. Or, again, to give a commercial look to the matter, for every dollar invested in manure in May, in October, or five months, we receive a return of three dollars and an eighth. The returns have proved in the same proportion up to eight cords, and at times up to ten cords, to the acre. These statements are not visionary ; they are drawn directly from practical experience^ and can be corroborated by any farmer who has tried liberal manuring. Catch a farmer of that class going backwards, and putting less and less manure on his grounds, what a phenomenon he would be ! No ; the progress of all enterprising farmers is in one direction. By extra manuring the probabilities of receiving paying returns, are far greater in agricultural than in commercial life, as figures will readily show, though the popular belief is directly the contrary.

PREPARING AND APPLYING THE IVIANURE.

As a general rule in farming, the value of manures that are good for any crop, is increased by mixing them together, making what is called a compost. Ashes and common lime are an exception to this rule; each of them sets free the ammonia, (the most valuable portion of any manure,) and, being volatile, it escapes into the atmosphere. In preparing a compost for squashes, the bottom of the heap may be made of muck that has been acted upon by the frost, sun, and rain of a year, if practicable ; if this can not be done, let it at least be got out the fall previous, that it may be disintegrated, and, in a measure, sweetened by the winter's frost. In the course of the winter, manure from the barn-yard may be hauled upon it. If this has been well worked by hogs, the better. Toward spring, if night-soil can be poured into it, the richness of the heap will be much increased. Sharp sand can now be thrown over the heap, and about as soon as frost breaks ground, the entire mass should be thrown over with forks, and thoroughly commingled, all coarse lumps broken up, and all frozen lumps brought to the outside of the pile. As soon as the mass begins to heat, the process should be repeated once or twice, until it is made as fine and as thoroughly mixed together, as time will allow. The sand will be found to be excellent to keep the manure finely divided and light, or to " cut " it, as farmers say.

In applying the manure for this or other crops, many farmers use all the manure in the hill ; some, because having but little to use, they wish to get it as near the plants as possible, while others seem to hold the theory, that a circle of three or four feet in diameter is a sufficient area for the roots of squash vines to travel over in search of food. Where all the manure is used in the hill, the squash vines push over the ground rapidly, until just after the setting of the squashes, when they lose vigor, the squashes develop but slowly, and in the end there is a small crop of undersized squashes, for the roots, having meanwhile pushed beyon.d the hills, can not find food sufficient to sustain the growth of the vines. The roots of squash vines increase faster than is generally supposed. There is a theory that the roots grow to the same length as the vines, keeping pace with them in their growth. Whether the roots grow as long, or longer, than the vines, I can not say, but when the runner of a vine had pushed out but eighteen inches, I found the root over three feet in length, thus proving that at one period of growth, the root increases faster than the vine. This spreading of the roots through the soil is one of the marvels of vegetable life. I remember once lifting a small pile of litter that was about six inches deep, some dozen feet distant fi-om a squash hill, when I saw what appeared to be a fine mist at the surface of the ground, but upon examination myriads of fine rootlets were seen, that were doubtless feeding on the decaying vegetable matter.

Any person who will examine a squash vine of the running sorts, after it has set its fruit, will find roots pushed down into the earth at each. joint ; and though these may be in part designed by the Creator to steady the vine, there can be but little doubt but that they are designed also to feed the long runners. And this is proved by the fact, that if the connection of the vine with the main root be severed, while these subordinate roots remain uninjured, it will still maintain a degree of vigor. Such facts as these sweep all theories of hill-manuring by the board, for if the roots travel beyond the hill in search of food, there a wise cultivator will put food for them. My usual practice is this : to distribute all the manure from my compost heap over the field, after the first plowing^ and before cultivating or harrowing. This is thoroughly worked under (and but just under), by a small one-horse plow, driven at right angles with the furrows, after which I follow with the cultivator, aiming to have everything as thoroughly fined up as possible. If time presses, I dispense with the small plow, and depend wholly on the cultivator and harrow to get my manure under the surface. After the manure is well worked under, the hills or drills are marked off by dragging a chain over the surface, the first line being made straight by setting up two poles ahead, and keeping them in line while walking; afterward the lines can be kept conveniently straight by carrying a pole of the same length as the distance desired between the hills, and using it occasionally as a guide. After the field is thus chained out in one direction, it is crossed in the opposite direction. The hills are marked out by the crossing of the lines made by the chain. If the surface is free from large rocks, the hills can be marked out by running two sets of furrows, the hills being made where they cross each other at right angles.

In the hills I work in my manure, avoiding all stable dung, or any animal manure, as this is liable to contain seed, and to one who raises squashes for seed purposes, this is quite a serious objection, for, in fact, I have found it almost impossible to keep squashes pure, where animal manure is used in the hill. I manure in tlie hill, or drill, with the most highly concentrated manures to be procured, such as guano, superphosphate of lime, or fish guano. The reason for using highly stimulating manure in the hill is, to give the plants a quick start when young, that they may grow beyond injury from the ravages of the striped bug.

There is danger in using highly concentrated manures in the hill, that the roots of the young plants be destroyed — " burned " is the farmer's phrase ; to prevent this, they should be most thoroughly stirred in with the soil. My practice is, to take such manure in a wooden bucket, and passing from hill to hill, scatter, if phosphates, as much as I can take up in a half closed hand ; if Peruvian guano, about half as much, over a circle of about two feet in diameter. A man follows immediately after with a six-tined fork; he is directed to turn it just under the surface, and then draw his fork across the hill three times, and again three times at right angles with the first direction, ending with planting the fork in the middle of the hill, and giving it a twist around. I am thus particular in my directions, because day laborers seldom realize the corrosive efiects of these highly concentrated fertilizers. After my man, a boy follows to plant the seed ; he sweeps a circle with his finger around each hill, as he finishes planting.

After the vines have got so far along as to show their runners, I top dress the surface with hen manure, or some of the special manures above mentioned, and immediately follow with the cultivator.

It will be perceived that my system of manuring is based upon the theory that vines prefer their food near the surface of the ground. I draw this inference from the fact, that vines are great lovers of heat, being quite sensitive to changes of temperature, and also from tracing roots, and finding under the old system of deep manuring, that they would, at first starting, run but an inch or two below the surface of the earth, when they would spread out horizontally, and stretch on for some feet at a very uniform distance below the surface. Again, I find my crops very satisfactory under this system of manuring, and for the past four years have cultivated all my crop (four to seven acres annually), on this plan. My friends will note that I reduce my manure very fine, and mix it very thoroughly with the soil. My soil is a strong loam.

PKEPAKING THE HILLS.

The system almost universally advised and pursued in preparing the hills for planting, is to throw out the earth from within a circle of from two and a half to four feet in diameter, and from six inches to a foot in depth, oftentimes quarrying out rocks and digging into the hard-pan to get the standard depth. Then fill in with manure, and cover this with earth, raising a low mound in the form of a truncated cone about six inches above the surface. On this mound the seed are planted. Where the land is freshly turned sod, the hills are usually made by cutting a hole of the usual diameter in the sod with a sharp spade or axe. In my own practice, I have given up this method for years. The plan of excavating a hole, and putting in it all, or about all, the manure for the crop, appears to be founded on the theory that the roots wiU confine themselves to the area — an idea entirely erroneous, as we have already shown. Quarrying into the hard-pan and putting manure down to such cold depths, is inviting the vine to violate its instinctive love of heat. Again, this system involves a great deal of labor, particularly when sod land is planted, and on these latter the pieces of sod taken out of the hills remain nuisances over the surface of the field, either clogging the cultivator, or being knocked against the young vines. Let any farmer try the plan of preparing his hills as I have detailed above, and I will guarantee that he will not again return to the present system. If bam manure is to be used in the hills, let them be made saucer shape, broad and shallow. In preparing freshly broken sod, I find Share's harrow an excellent implement, as it will pare down the sod to an inch in thickness, and make the soil as easy to be worked as old ground.

HOW FAR APAET SHOULD WE HAVE THE BILLS, AiO) HOW MANY VINES SHALL WE LEAVE EST THE HILL?

The great error among farmers is to make these hills too near together, and leave too many vines in each hill. A very common distance for Marrow squashes is six feet apart each way, three or four vines being left in each hill.