ined at the blossom-end, which expands somewhat abruptly,
and is often slightly ribbed. Skin of moderate thickness, and easily
pierced by the nail; color, when fully ripened, cream-yellow, but, if
long kept, becoming duller and darker; flesh salmon-red, very
close-grained, dry, sweet, and fine-flavored; seeds comparatively small,
of a grayish or dull-white color, with a rough and uneven
yellowish-brown border; three hundred are contained in an ounce.

[Illustration]

The Canada is unquestionably the best of the Crooknecked sorts. The
vines are remarkably hardy and prolific; yielding almost a certain crop
both North and South. The variety ripens early; the plants suffer but
little from the depredations of bugs or worms; and the fruit, with
trifling care, may be preserved throughout the year. It is also quite
uniform in quality; being seldom of the coarse and stringy character so
common to other varieties of this class.

CASHEW.

Cushaw Pumpkin.

Somewhat of the form and color of the Common Winter Crookneck. Two
prominent varieties, however, occur. The first is nearly round; the
other curved, or of the shape of a hunter's horn. The latter is the most
desirable. It is not cultivated or generally known in New England or in
the northern portions of the United States; for though well suited to
Louisiana and other portions of the South, where it is much esteemed, it
is evidently too tender for cultivation where the seasons are
comparatively short and cool.

In an experimental trial by the late Dr. Harris, specimens raised from
seed received from New Jersey "did not ripen well, and many decayed
before half ripe."

The Crooknecks of New England "may be distinguished from the Cashew by
the want of a persistent style, and by their furrowed and club-shaped
fruit-stems."

COCOA-NUT SQUASH.

Cocoa Squash.

Fruit oval, elongated, sixteen to twenty inches in length, eight or ten
inches in diameter, and weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds and
upwards; skin thin, easily pierced or broken, of an ash-gray color,
spotted, and marked with light drab and nankeen-brown,--the furrows
dividing the ribs light drab; stem small; flesh deep orange-yellow, of
medium thickness; seeds pure white, broader in proportion to their
length than those of the Hubbard or Boston Marrow.

The quality of the Cocoa-nut Squash is extremely variable. Sometimes the
flesh is fine-grained, dry, sweet, and of a rich, nut-like flavor; but
well-devel