sometimes be procured as large as the dimension given for
the Common Yellow. Color yellow, striped and variegated with
green,--after being gathered, the green becomes gradually softer and
paler, and the yellow deeper; flesh yellow, moderately thick, and,
though by some considered of superior quality, has not the fine, dry,
and well-flavored character essential for table use; seeds similar to
the foregoing sorts.

The Striped Field Pumpkin is a hardy sort, and yields well. It is,
however, exceedingly liable to hybridize with all the varieties of the
family, and is with difficulty preserved in an unmixed condition. It
should be grown as far apart as possible from all others, especially
when the seed raised is designed for sale or for reproduction at home.

SUGAR-PUMPKIN.

Small Sugar-pumpkin.

[Illustration: Sugar-pumkin.]

Plant similar in its character and general appearance to the Common
Field Pumpkin; fruit small, eight or nine inches at its broadest
diameter, and about six inches in depth; form much depressed, usually
broadest near the middle, and more or less distinctly ribbed; skin
bright orange-yellow when the fruit is well ripened, hard, and
shell-like, and not easily broken by the nail; stem quite long,
greenish, furrowed, and somewhat reticulated; flesh of good thickness,
light-yellow, very fine-grained, sweet, and well flavored; seeds of
smaller size than, but in other respects similar to, those of the Field
Pumpkin. The variety is the smallest of the sorts usually employed for
field cultivation. It is, however, a most abundant bearer, rarely fails
in maturing its crops perfectly, is of first-rate quality, and may be
justly styled an acquisition. For pies, it is not surpassed by any of
the family; and it is superior for table use to many of the garden
squashes. The facility with which it hybridizes or mixes with other
kinds renders it extremely difficult to keep the variety pure; the
tendency being to increase in size, to grow longer or deeper, and to
become warty: either of which conditions may be considered an infallible
evidence of deterioration.

Varieties sometimes occur more or less marbled and spotted with green;
the green, however, often changing to yellow after harvesting.

* * * * *

SNAKE OR SERPENT CUCUMBER.

Cucumis flexuosus.

Though generally considered as a species of cucumber, this plant should
properly be classed with the melons. In its manner of