CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8052, 29 October 1897, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

PUMPKIN GROWING. [To ihb Editor or thb Herald.] J Sm, — I would ask you to publish the accompanying correspondence for the benefit of "our sheepfarmers. — Yours faithfully, F. J. Shelton. * Gisborne, 26th October, 1897. . W. K. Chambers, Regongaere. . Dear Sir; — As pumpkin-growing appears likely to become a very profitable sheep feed in this place, and 'as I know you have given a lot of consideration to this question, I ' would be obliged if you would for general information give me the benefit of your experience. I.— What kind of seed do you recommend, and how. long should seed be kept before being sown ? 2.— Do you recommend that only one class of seed should be sown in a paddock ? 3. — What plan do you recommend as the best for sowing the seeds 1 4. — What dates can pumpkins be satisfactorily planted here ? 5. — How should the paddock be cultivated ? Is it necessary that the whole paddock should be thoroughly ploughed and worked, or could the pumpkins be profitably sown in , furrows through grass, the remaining laud being left in grass ? 6. — Do you recommend manure to be sown with the seed ? If so, what quantity and how put in ? 7. — How many seeds do you put in each hill? ■ 8. — In saving seed, from what kind of pumpkins do yon recommend seed to be saved ? ■ 9. — If the seed is taken from the pumpkin is the feeding property diminished, and to what extent ? , 10.— About what dates can the pumpkins be eaten off, and how long will they ■ last? 11. — Do you consider that sheep can be fed on pumpkins to produce freezing sheep by September ? 12. — Is it advisable to feed on hay at the same time ? 13.— How many sheep can be carried per acre for a given time on an average crop? Yours faithfully, (Sgd.) F. J. SIIELTOX. Repongaere, October 27th, 1897. F. J. Shelton, Esq. Deaf Sir, — I have much pleasure in answering, to the best of my ability, the questions re .pumpkin growing which you have asked in yours of yesterday. There is no doubt that this district will make an astonishing advance as soon as the value of pumpkins as a winter food is more generally known, and I hope my reply may lead to a general interchange of experiences, which will help to re*nove the subject from its present experimental stage to a more solid basis. 1. — I have for the last five years used a late keeping variety commonly known as "Ironbark. I have, however, come to the conclusion that one should have an early maturing variety which could be eaten off in ' March and April, i.e., about two months before the late keepers mature. Two-year-old seed is best. Its slightly decreased vitality makes the plant run more to fruit than leaf. 2. — I think that, with a view to preserving as far as possible the purity of the seeds used, each variety should be planted as far asunder as possible. 3. — This is a very debatable question. I have tried hills with fairly satisfactory results, but on the whole I think drills 18ft apart give better returns, and lessen the labor. 4. — Not earlier than the middle of October and up to the end of November ; in moist summers even later. Too early planting is dangerous, as in the early stages of the plant a sudden lowering of the temperature, even though it should be many degrees above freezing, will give a check that it never gets over.

s—Thorough5 — Thorough cultivation is absolutely necessary to ensure a good crop. Growers will notice that in well-tilled ground the pumpkin does not depend entirely on its main roots, but the vines at their joints will throw off small feeders (they can hardly be called roots) of from one to two inches long. As to cultivating the land in strips, I should not recommend it. The return would be for the cultivated area plus a few undersized fruits on the grass lands. 6. — I am trying a very small quantity tbis year, just sufficient to give the young plant a quick start. Heavy manuring is to be avoided, as it causes the plant to run to leaf and vine instead of fruit.

7. — After a good many trials of different distances each way, I have finally adopted drills 18 feet apart and single seeds four feet apart. In some soils no doubt these figures might be profitably either increased or diminished. If the ground is too thickly covered with a mass of luxuriant growth, many of the flowers are not fertilized. I don't recommend planting in hills. 8. —I can only speak of late keepers. This quality is the first I pick for ; second, thick- ■ ness of flesh ; and next, abundance of seed. The kst two qualities I should look for in early varieties. Early maturing would also be another point. 9.— 1 think the seed is the most valuable feeding portion of the pumpkin, superior to an.equal weight of oats. It is also a wellknown anthelmintic. 10. — Late keepers mature from April to May, and should be quite sound to the middle of September. U— Yes. I fed 800 wethers on eight acres of a very medium crop from June 3rd to end of July, and 400 were picked as freezers. A load of threshed hay a day was the only other food they had, and the run of 15 acres of rough grass. 12. — Dry food of some sort is very beneficial. As long as it is sound it hardly seems to matter how poor or innutritious the hay I is. 13.— Unfortunately, I am not methodical enough to keep accurate records, but I have little hesitation in saying at least 50 sheep per acre for 3J months. I am, etc.,

W. K. Chambers.