Lesson CLXXII

The Pumpkin

Leading thought—The pumpkin and squash were cultivated by the American Indians in their cornfields long before Columbus discovered the new world. The flowers of these plants depend entirely upon insects for carrying their pollen, and are unable to develop their fruit without this aid.

Method—This work may be done in the garden or field in September or early October; or a vine bearing both kinds of flowers, leaves and tendrils may be brought to the schoolroom for observation. The lesson on the pumpkin fruit may be given later. A small green pumpkin should be studied with the ripe one, and also with the blossoms, so as to show the position of the seeds during development. This lesson can be modified to fit the cucumber, the melon and the squash.

The Pumpkin Vine and Flowers

Observations—1. How many different forms of flowers do you find on a pumpkin vine? What are the chief differences in their shape?

2. Look first at the flowers with the long slender stems: What is the shape and color of the blossom? How many lobes has it? Is each lobe distinctly ribbed or veined? Is the flower smooth on the inner and the outer surface? Are the edges of the lobes scalloped or ruffled?

3. What do you see at the bottom of the golden vase of this flower? This yellow club, or knob, is formed by the joining of three anthers, one of which is smaller than the others. Do all the pumpkin flowers have this knob at the center? Look at the base of the standard which bears the anther-knob, and note if there are some openings; how many? Cut off the anther pedestal, and describe what is hidden beneath it. Note if the bees find the openings to the nectar-well and probe there for the nectar. Do they become dusted with pollen while seeking the nectar?

4. What color is the pollen which is clinging to the anther? Is it soft and light, or moist and sticky? Do you think that the wind would be able to lift it from its deep cup and carry it to the cup of another flower?

5. Describe the calyx behind this pollen-bearing flower. How many lobes has it? Are the lobes slender and pointed?

6. Find one of the flowers which has below it a little green globe, which will later develop into a pumpkin. How does this flower differ from the one that bears the pollen?

7. Describe or sketch the pistil which is at the bottom of this flower vase. Into how many lobes does it divide? Do these three stigmas face outward, or toward each other? Are the styles which uphold the stigmas short or long? Describe the cup in which they stand. Break away a bit of this little yellow cup and taste it. Why do you think the pumpkin flowers need such a large and well-filled nectary? Could insects get the nectar from the cup without rubbing against the stigmas, the pollen with which they became so thoroughly dusted when they visited the staminate flowers?

8. Cut through the center of one of the small green pumpkins. Can you see into how many sections it is divided? Does the number of seed-clusters correspond with the number of stigmas in the flower? Make a sketch of a cross-section, showing where the seeds are placed.

9. What insects do you find visiting the pumpkin flowers?

10. Carefully unfold a flower bud which is nearly ready to open, and note how it is folded. Then notice late in the afternoon how the flower closes. What part is folded over first? What next? How does it look when closed?

11. Describe the stems of the pumpkin vine; how are they strengthened and protected? Sketch or describe a pumpkin leaf.

12. Describe one of the tendrils of the pumpkin vine. Do you think that these tendrils could help the vine in climbing? Have you ever found a pumpkin vine climbing up any object?

The Pumpkin Fruit

Observations—1. Do you think the pumpkin is a beautiful fruit? Why? Describe its shape and the way it is creased. Describe the rind, its color and its texture, and tell how it protects the fruit. Describe the stem; does it cling to the pumpkin? How many ridges in the stem where it joins the vine? How many where it joins the pumpkin? Which part of the stem is larger? Does this give it a firmer hold?

2. Cut in halves crosswise a small green pumpkin and a ripe one. Which is the most solid? Can you see how the seeds are borne in the green pumpkin? How do they look in the ripe pumpkin? What is next to the rind in the ripe fruit? What part of the pumpkin do we use for pies?

3. Can you see in the ripe pumpkin where the seeds are borne? How are they suspended? How many rows of seeds lengthwise of the pumpkin? Of what use could it be to the pumpkin to have the seeds thus suspended within it by these threads or fibers? What is left of a pumpkin after the cattle have eaten it? Might the seeds thus left plant themselves?

4. Is the pumpkin seed attached at the round, or the pointed, end? Describe the pumpkin seed its shape and its edges? How does it feel when first taken from the pumpkin? How many coats has the seed?

5. Describe the meat of the seed? Does it divide naturally into two parts? Can you see the little germ? Have you ever tried roasting and salting pumpkin and squash seeds, to prepare them for food as almonds and peanuts are prepared?

6. Plant a pumpkin seed in damp sand and give it warmth and light. From which end does it sprout? What comes first, the root or the leaves? What part of the seed forms the seed-leaves?

7. Describe how the pumpkin sprout pries open the shell to its seed, in order to get its seed-leaves out. What happens if it does not pull them out? Which part of the seedling pumpkin appears above ground first?

8. How do the true leaves differ in shape from the seed-leaves. What is the use of the seed-leaves to the plant?

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New-Englander sees round his board
The old broken lines of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin—our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam,
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

—J. G. Whittier.