The Arizona sentinel., 1889-06-22
RAISING SOUASHES.
Information on Points Not Fully Under.
 stood by Farmers.

| ID1OrmatiOn on Points NOC EutIy Unuer' stood by Farmers.
 The squash is indigenous to the trop- i ical climates and to the warmer DOT tions of the temperate zones, so that in our latitude they require very hot seasons to grow them successfully. While taste for squash, like that for tomato and banana, seems to be mat ter of education, yet dealers who are in position to know say that the squash ranks next to the potato in popularity, more especially in the larger cities.
 The ordinary method of digging holes in odd corners and Out-of-the- way places and then filling the holes with manure in which to plant squashes is time poorly spent, for the result is seldom satisfactory. After the vine has made a growth of a few feet, and has set 8 few squashes, it is checked in its growth, turns yellow and dies, the roots having in vain en- deavored to penetrate the ground sur rounding the hole in which they are growing. As to how far the roots of a squash vine will extend, it is my belief that the roots of the squash vine will extend as far under ground as the vine extends on the ground above.
 The great error in cultivating the squash is to starve it; another is to give all the food necessary without al- lowing room for extra growth of the vine under high cultivation. The best results may be obtained by scattering the manure after blowing the ground. It should then be thoroughly incor- pOrated with the soil. Commercial manures are preferable to stable ma- nure for manuring in the hill, from the fact that they contain no seed. and will give the young plant a quick start, while the manure which has been worked into the soil about the plant will be held in reserve and be efficient in maturing the crop.
 Thorough mixing of fertilizers with the soil is important; top dressing of well-rotted manure or superphosphate of lime is reliShed by the vine after the runners begin to show. Hills should be from eight to twelve feet apart, ac- cording to the varie ty planted. Squash vines are susceptible to the slightest injury or disturbance, and, as rule, it is better to allow weeds which spring up near the end of the season to remain than to disturb the vines in attempting to pull them up and cut them off. No person should be allowed to pass through or even set foot in the squash patch, after the squashes have commenced setting.
 Squashes mix in their seeds, but the effect does not become apparent until the seeds are planted and squashes are produced the following season; thus it will be seen that seed taken from squashes, which may yield crop where every specimen grown may show marks of impurity. It is important that the laws of admixture may be un- derstood, that the risk incidental to planting seeds that look pure should be more generally known. No matter how many varieties may be planted together, no crossing from the result of that planting will be seen in the ex- ternaI color, shape or appearance the same sensonI
 To have squash seed pure the squashes from which they are taken must have been grown in an isolated locality. Where different varieties are grown in the same locality, and it is desired to keep any one variety pure, it may be accomplished by preventing any male flowers of the other varieties from maturing. The fruit from any particular blossom may be kept pure by covering with a screen, removing only to fertilize with pollen from male flower of its own vine. Many people profess to classify squashes as to male or female from their appearance of the calyx end of the squash. This is i'm possible, as every individual seed in every squash contains the two sexes in itself in its capacity to produce male and female flowers. Chicago Inter- Ocean.