Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1895-10-10
THE; CITIZEN.
A 27xIo Foot Squash.


THE following was written by SUD-
scriber living in Irwin twp, Venango co.,
Last spring our worthy townsman MI
II. planted hill of California mammoth
squashes, close to pile Of manure on his
stable lot, and the squashes came up il due
time and were hoed once by Mr.. H. On
his next visit to the vines he found that
the bugs had eaten all the vines except
one stalk, this one he dressed up in the
hope that be might, at least, get one ripe
squash for seed as the variety was rare
one. TO protect the vine from the iurther
r4vages of the bugs he raked some loose
manure over it, leaving the vine covered
Being called away from home tor some
time he forgot all about the squash vine,
and as be kept horse aud COW, he con-
| tinued to throw the manure on the pile.
| Several times during the summer he re-
| marked to his wife that the manure pile
was increasing ve-y rapidly, but be
/ thought nothing of the matter until 1t be-
| gan to attract the attention Of the neigh
bors. BY this time he began 10 think he
was throwing out too much bedding straw
aad he would use a little more economy,
but to no avail, the pile kept getting big.
ger and bigger Mr. H. called 20 his aid
! Prof. ". with the view of having the mat
ter scientifically investigated and after
| Nr. H. had told the Prof what he knew
OF the situation, he the Prof. became
somewhat mysterious, and said l have
come to IL e conclusion that the increase
in the size of the manure pile is due solely
to fungi-mush- room growth. Prof. NJ gave
fine description of the fungi and its growtt
technically and scientifically explain
ing and showing that by reason of the hot
dry summer, the great heat caused s2on
tanious warmth, thereby producing th'
fungi. and advising Mr.. d. however, u
not disturb the pile until Fall, letting the
fungi increase, as il was of the kind tha
made good fertilizer, and this Mr.. II
! agreed to do. The Prof. WAS mistaken a
the sequel will show. Last week Mr.. ID
began TO haul out the manure and ha'
taken only fork full or two of it off tn,
a hard smooth surface, that seemed quit
solid. Remembering what the Prof, haC
told him in regard to the fungi and no
knowing exactly what this thing mean
he came to the conclusion that it alluded
to some kind of an amphibious animal .
monster ready to spring upon him with
out a moments notice. This though
caused him to give ell that would pu
shame on an slchohol drinking India
Squaw-man This brought his neighbor
1ocking around To see what the trouble
was. A few words Of explanation tol
the story, and feeling their number sul
fcient to stand against any odds, eve
old Nick himself, they proceeded to bel
DIR. II. to clear up the mystery, and In
short time there was brought to view
squash of prodigioUs dimensions and q
the California Mammoth variety. A NOR
astonished lot of people could not b
found, and after the excitement had pass
ed off some one got tape line and I'd
squash was measured and found to be L
feet in diameter and 81 feet long. Larg
numbers are Aocking to Mr.. HIS. TO see tn
phenomenal squash and he has been offs
ed large sum for it by parties who war
10 take t to Pittsburg and place 1t on ez
hibition in the Exposition. This abno
NAL growth can only be accounted for b
the fact that the vine grew under u
manure. This may cause new era
squash culture, and new wonders may
discovered when the squash is opene
What may be brought to light at tn
time what the price Of the squash seed W
be will begiven in this paper W.