For pickling purposes
plant the Green Prolific on moist rich land. The other varieties
answer quite as well, if picked before they are too large.
The cultivation of the squash is substantially the same as that of
the cucumber, and it has nearly the same enemies to contend with.
Let the hills of the bush sorts be four feet apart each way, and
eight feet for the running varieties. The seed is cheap, so use
plenty, and plant over from the first to the twenty-fifth of May,
until you have three good strong plants to the hill. Three are
plenty, so thin out the plants, when six or seven inches high, to
this number, and keep the ground clean and mellow. I usually raise
my running squashes among the corn, giving up one hill to them
completely every seven or eight feet each way. Early bush sorts:
White Bush Scalloped, Yellow Bush Scalloped. The Perfect Gem is
good for both summer and winter, and should be planted on rich
soil, six feet apart each way. The Boston Marrow is one of the
best fall sorts; the Hubbard and Marblehead are the best winter
varieties.
When we come to plant musk-melons we must keep them well away from
the two above-named vegetables, or else their pollen will mix,
producing very disagreeable hybrids. A squash is very good in its
way, and a melon is much better; but if you grow them so near each
other that they become "'alf and 'alf," you may perhaps find pigs
that will eat them.
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