Hubbard Squash.
Plant similar in character and appearance to that of the Autumnal Marrow; fruit irregularly oval, sometimes ribbed, but often without rib-markings, from eight to ten inches in length, seven or eight inches in diameter, and weighing from seven to nine pounds,—some specimens terminate quite obtusely, others taper sharply towards the extremities, which are frequently bent or curved; skin, or shell, dense and hard, nearly one-eighth of an inch thick, and overspread with numerous small protuberances; stem fleshy, but not large; color variable, always rather dull, and usually clay-blue or deep olive-green,—the upper surface, if long exposed to the sun, assuming a brownish cast, and the under surface, if deprived of light, becoming orange-yellow; flesh rich salmon-yellow, thicker than that of the Autumnal Marrow, very fine-grained, sweet, dry, and of most excellent flavor,—in this last respect, resembling that of roasted or boiled chestnuts; seeds white,—similar to those of the Autumnal Marrow. Season from September to June; but the flesh is dryest and sweetest during autumn and the early part of winter.
The Hubbard Squash should be grown in hills seven feet apart, and three plants allowed to a hill. It is essential that the planting be made as far as possible from similar varieties, as it mixes, or hybridizes, readily with all of its kind. In point of productiveness, it is about equal to the Autumnal Marrow. "The average yield from six acres was nearly five tons of marketable squashes to the acre."
Mr. J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass., who introduced this variety to notice, and through whose exertions it has become widely disseminated, remarks in the "New-England Farmer" as follows:—
"Of its history I know next to nothing, farther than that the seed was given to me by an aged female, about twelve years since, in remembrance of whom I named it; and that the party from whom she received it cannot tell from whence the seed came. I infer that it is of foreign origin, partly from the fact that the gentleman to whom I traced it is a resident of a seaport town, and is largely connected with those who follow the seas."
Italian Vegetable Marrow. Thomp.
Courge Coucourzelle.
This forms a dwarf bush, with short, reclining stems, and upright leaves, which are deeply five-lobed. The fruits are used when the flowers are about to drop from their ends. They are then from four to five inches long, and an inch and a half to two inches in diameter. When ripe, the fruit is from fifteen to eighteen inches in length, and about six inches in diameter. It is of a pale yellow, striped with green. It should, however, be used in the young, green state; for, when mature, it is not so good as many of the other sorts. It bears very abundantly; and, as it does not run, may be grown in smaller compass than the true Vegetable Marrow.
Mammoth.
Mammoth Pumpkin. Large Yellow Gourd, of the English. Thomp. Potiron jaune, of the French. Cucurbita maxima.