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Squashes

Squashes image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
May
Year
1879
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The soil lor squashes should be good mellow soil, well drained, such as will jrow a good erop of eorn. Strong elay and will anawer if well drained, but ;he best erops are usually grown on 3oil with rather sandy subsoil covered uy deep loam. Squashes will do well on a freshly turned sod, plowed in May just before planting, and also upon old ?arden land. They are rank feeders and must have plenty of manure, ten cords per acre spread and worked in with a cultivatoi" or harrow near the snrface, and two handfuls of guano or hen manure worked into the hills before planting, taking care to mix the strong fertilizers well with the soil. The best time to plant squashes is just j as the fruit trees are in bloom in May. but il' they are to be grown as a second erop alter potatoes, cabbages, peas or greens, and it is needful to have the soil occupieiby the early erop till.Iuly 10, it will be better not to put in the squash iseed till June 1 to lp. The squash hills are made, when the land is de.voted to this erop alone, about seven feet apart, and eight geeds are dropped in a hill, covered with an inch of earth. Some gai-deners prefer to take pains to stick the seed in by hand, gerin downwards, thinking it is quicker and surer to grow ; this is not necessary however. As soon as the vines appear above ground the war with the bugs begins. The yellow striped bug is flrst; he is kept in check by sprinkling the yines early in the morning with a little piaster from a sieve, which must be replaced as often as the wind and rain remove it from the leaves. A few days later the large black bug appears, and a war of extermination is now justiiiable. Place a bit of of shingle beside each hill; go around before breakfast, and look under the sliincles fnvflip. hiira. aiir) wlieu found kill thein at once without regard to the smell that will ensue. If they once deposit their eggs, and the second generation appears in force, then goodbye squashes. A still more troublesome enemy is the borer. Some purdenera have been successfulinfighting hiin at the point of the jacknif e ; his whereabouts being discovered by his droppings near the root of the vine, the vine may be opened with the knife carefully and the varmint extracted, covering the wound afterward with u little eartli. If he is not removed the vine will of ten wilt and die, when several yards long. It is important to cultívate the squash as often as possible bef ore it begins to run, as alter this it is impossible do do anything to prevent weeds l'rom growing. They should be thinned out to four in a liill when they begin to run. The erop is cut and sold from the field as f ast as it ripens in Fall ; or. if wanted for Winter sales, is usnally cut and stored early in September, before frost. The ripening is determined by the drying of the stem. When squashes are raised as a second crop,it is customary to leave blank rows, eight or nine feet apart, between the potatoes, peas or cabbages, etc., which make the early erop ; the variety used for this purpose is the Boston Marrovv, as it will bear late planting, keeps well for Winter sale, and is very productive. The squash seed is put in the blank rows, in hills four feet apart in the row, about June 1 to 10. Kanted thus late they grow rapidly, and escape the bugs in a measure. They will begin to run July 10 to 15, when the early erop must be cleared off to give them room to strike root between the rows. The storage is effected in a dryhouse furnished with shelves three feet apart, with air spaces between the boards. The squashes are piled two tiers deep, and the temperature kept as near to OOS as possible by means of a stove. A chili below 40 is very apt to cause serious loss by rotting. Stored squashes require picking over every two weeks to culi out the decayed ones and spotted ones, the latter being salable in Winter.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus