of vigorous, stocky habit, extending twelve feet and upwards in
length; fruit rounded, usually a little more deep than broad, flattened
at the ends, and rather regularly, and more or less prominently, ribbed.
Its size is much affected by soil, season, and the purity of the seed.
Average specimens will measure about fourteen inches in length, and
eleven or twelve inches in diameter. Color rich, clear orange-yellow;
skin, or rind, if the fruit is well matured, rather dense and hard;
flesh variable in thickness, but averaging about an inch and a half, of
a yellow color, generally coarse-grained, and often stringy, but
sometimes of fine texture, dry, and of good quality; seeds of medium
size, cream-yellow.

The cultivation of the Common Yellow Field Pumpkin in this country is
almost co-eval with its settlement. For a long period, few, if any, of
the numerous varieties of squashes, now so generally disseminated, were
known; and the Pumpkin was not only extensively employed as a material
for pies, but was much used as a vegetable, in the form of squash, at
the table. During the struggle for national independence, when the
excessively high prices of sugars and molasses prevented their general
use, it was the practice to reduce by evaporation the liquid in which
the pumpkin had been cooked, and to use the saccharine matter thus
obtained as a substitute for the more costly but much more palatable
sweetening ingredients. When served at table in the form of a vegetable,
a well-ripened, fine-grained pumpkin was selected, divided either
lengthwise or crosswise; the seeds extracted; the loose, stringy matter
removed from the inner surface of the flesh; and the two sections, thus
prepared, were baked, till soft, in a common oven. The flesh was then
scooped from the shell, pressed, seasoned, and served in the usual form.
By many, it is still highly esteemed, and even preferred for pies to the
Squash, or the more improved varieties of pumpkins; but its cultivation
at present is rather for agricultural than for culinary purposes.

CONNECTICUT FIELD PUMPKIN.

A large, yellow, field variety, not unlike the Common Yellow in form,
but with a softer skin, or shell. It is very prolific, of fair quality
as an esculent, and one of the best for cultivating for stock or for
agricultural purposes.

LONG YELLOW FIELD PUMPKIN.

Plant hardy and vigorous, not distinguishable from that of the Common
Yellow variety; fruit oval, much elongated, t