There are some five or six varieties in cultivation. Loudon says six,
and Russell's catalogue has five. The number is increasing, and names
becoming uncertain. Certain varieties are called pumpkins by some, and
squashes by others. The large yellow Connecticut, or Yankee pumpkin, is
best for all uses. The large cheese pumpkin is good at the South and
West. The mammoth that has weighed as high as two hundred and thirty
pounds, is a squash, more ornamental than useful. The seven years'
pumpkin is a great keeper. It has doubtless been kept through several
years without decay. Pumpkins will grow on any good rich soil, but best
on new land, and in a wet season. Do best alone, but will grow well
among corn and better with potatoes. A good crop of pumpkins can seldom
be raised, two years in succession, on the same land. Care in saving
seed is very important. The spot on the end that was originally covered
by the blossom, varies much in dimensions, on pumpkins of the same size.
Seeds from those having small blossom-marks, bear very few, and from
those having large ones, produce abundantly.
They are good fall and winter feed for most animals. They will cause
hogs to grow rapidly, if boiled with roots, and mixed with a little
grain. Fed raw to milch cows and fattening cattle, they are valuable.
Learn a horse to eat them raw, and if his work be not too hard, he will
fatten on them. They may be preserved in a dry cellar, in a warm room as
sweet potatoes, or in a mow of hay or straw, that will not freeze
through. But for family use they are better stewed green, and dried.