Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1890-02-25
PUMPKINS
RAISING ANp USING HIN. Do NOT
GROW WIN com.

Farmers whose experience With the
pumpkin has been confined to what u
will Yield when planted among corn,
would be surprised to see the crop that
can be grown when raised by itself, with
a liberal application of the Kind of INA.
nurc beat adapted to IL. The Kind ~
manure beat Tor the corn crop IL not the
Kind which Il the best for the pumpkin
crop. Corn requires loan rich In phos-
photic acid and potash. and certainly
bat a small per cent of nitrogen. The
vine class, such as pumpkins, .quashes
aud melons rcqulrc, on the contrary,
loam that shall b. especially rich In MI
trogsn, aud the quantity of the crop IL
almost In proportion to the libcrallty of
the uss of this element. While II might
not pay To purrhas. the high priced
forms ~ nitrogen for this crop, yet
where the farmer has access 10 that very
cheap source, hsh waste, " be Ia. .
dairy u may - made to pay well.
last spring ! measured OF half acre
IL fair loam that had been manurr,i AZ
about the cluivalcnt of siN cords to the
acre for the four years Il had bccn re-
clalmel from pasture; 90 TIL. was applied
four cords II harm manure In which
rather over a ton of nsh had been well
mixed. The piece Was planted toward
the close ~ Nav with the Michigan
mammoth pumpkin, In hill. lsxl2, the
vine. bclng dnally reduced Ia two io
each hill. They hal three CIVILIZATIONS,
though AZ one Icriod of their growth the
Nes~ls gut the start. and there had Ia u"
some hard pulling. lathe fall, after the
leaves II the vine. had mostly died down,
the field, covered with lis huge fruit,
weighing from twenty to forty pound.
each, and almost every one ~ the rich
ct orange color. was certainly very
striking sight. tine load being weighed,
and the quantity II the rcsi of the load.
l.ing esiimaied from that weight, Ne
found the entire crop, Including two
l0ads not fully ripe, was rising ten t"ns.
n 4. not necessary that a farmer shoui
plant thl. variety to get twenty tons To
the acrv. I have known a crop NJ the
rate of twenty-five tons Ia the acre to hc
raise,i from pumpkins whose average
weight was not over eight pounds. This
crop was not rvmarkably large, for the
fact that the se~i was taken from sever
Al NAfNsANfH NNNAu XIV rti' ~ Nsfff -
a mongrvl crop of either pumpkins or
sluashes. 10 bat Que sisp removed from
it, parrnis, will Yield heavier than dh
either ~ the parents. This !. on The
.amc principle whereby grade COW Will
usually DO better than the average of the
two pur,~brcd parents ~ which shc i a
cross. Nov doe. the pumpkin play ANY
part Ia the farm economy that would
make u profitable o. ralsc themt ] hni
In nv experience a. milk producer
that thsrr l. pcrio,l between the COM
lag % thr first frpst sufiiviently seNrr-
e. desruy fpidsr corn and the dat" when
Ne ot.sn cur lilo where therv IL blank
In gfren fo,idsr; this blank the pumpkin
wiil hi. The objcCtion sometimes made
to fec,ling the seed u not always well
taken, bat II thu cows are obssfNcd to
urinsic morr freely after being fci With
.ecd aud an. then the bulk ~ the sc'i
should d. removed, othsrwiseas as tbe.c
contain Ear richer nutriment than ia"
ie.h. Indeed an, especially rich when
that 4. deficient, I advise feeding ihcm.
-JANTs !. II. GETGogr In New Eng-
land Iarnef