Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/95

 PUMPELLY PUMPKIN 87 them alternately through two openings, which are also opened and closed by ball valves, the alternate expansion and condensation of steam in the chambers causing the movements. A delivery passage, common to both chambers, is also provided with a ball valve, which os- cillates from side to side as the lower valves alternately open and close. It is claimed to be peculiarly adapted to pumping water from mines, from its not being liable to get out of order, working very well, it is said, when the water contains grit and mud. Pumps for ships, mines, and submarine excavations, from their liability to become obstructed with solid sub- stances or corroded with salt water, should be selected with especial reference to the difficul- ties met with in each case. The valves should be constructed in such a manner that they will not be liable to become clogged, and, when they are so, can be easily reached and cleaned. For a further description of pumps and water engines, see Ewbank's "Hydrau- lics " (new ed., New York, 1863), the report on the Paris universal exposition of 1867 by F. A. P. Barnard, LL. D. (New York, 1869), and Spon's " Dictionary of Engineering " (Lon- don, 1874). PUMPELLY, Raphael, an American metallur- gist, born at Owego, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1837. He studied for several years in Hanover, Pa- ris, and Freiberg in Saxony, returning home in 1860. He afterward engaged in mining and smelting operations in Arizona and other territories, and was employed by the Japanese government to explore the mineral resources of the island of Yezo, and by the Chinese government to survey the coal fields of north- ern China. In 1866 he was appointed profes- sor of mining engineering in Harvard univer- sity, in 1870-'7l had charge of the state geolo- gical survey of the copper district of Michigan, and in 1871 was appointed state geologist of Missouri, which post he resigned in 1873. He has published "Across America and Asia" (New York, 1870); "Geological Survey of Missouri, Preliminary Eeport," with an atlas and plates (1873) ; " Geological Survey of Michigan," vol. i., part 2, "Copper District," with atlas (1873); and various monographs in scientific journals. PUMPKIN (formerly written pompion, from the old French pompon ; Gr. TreTrow), the plant and fruit of cucurbita pepo, an annual plant of the natural order cucurlitacece or gourd family, for the characters of which see GOURD. The genus cucurbita has large yellow flowers, with a bell-shaped or short funnel-formed, five-cleft corolla, its base adherent to the bell-shaped tube of the calyx ; the three long, much curved anthers united into a small head ; stigmas three, each three-lobed ; fruit fleshy, with a firm rind. The pumpkins, the squashes in all their great variety, and the vegetable marrows belong to this genus, in which the species are in great confusion. The term pumpkin is in different parts of the country very loosely ap- plied ; in the present article it refers to those varieties of C. pepo which are known in the agriculture of the northern states as pumpkin, leaving the others to be described under SQUASH. The plant is a vigorous one, often running 12 ft. or more ; rough-hairy, and almost prickly ; Field Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo). the flower stalks are obtusely angled, and after fruiting have five to eight ridges with deep grooves between ; the fruit varies in shape, and is marked with longitudinal broad ribs and furrows; the interior is hollow, and traversed by coarse pulpy threads. In its most common form the fruit is a little longer than broad, flattened at the ends, and rather regularly rib- bed, and averaging about a foot in diameter, though often much larger ; the color a rich clear orange yellow. There is much doubt as to the native country of the pumpkin, it being claimed for the Levant and for Astrakhan, while Dr. Gray ("American Journal of Sci- ence," 1857) shows that there is good reason for believing it to have been cultivated in this country by the Indians before the coming of the whites. In the earlier agriculture of the country the pumpkin was a more important crop than at present ; it was then raised, as it is now to some extent, as a " stolen crop," a few seeds placed at intervals in a field of Indian corn or potatoes often giving, besides the regu- lar crop, a ton of pumpkins, which afforded a food much relished by cattle, and abundant supplies for the table. Before the introduction of the greatly superior squashes, or even the better varieties of the pumpkin, the common field variety was much used as food, not only as the basis of pumpkin pies, but for a table vegetable, as squash is now served ; stewed or baked pumpkin (the fruit divided, the seeds and stringy matter removed, and the halves baked) was a very common article of food, and is still preferred by some to the finer substi- tutes. For winter use it is cut into thin strips and dried in the sun, or in a warm room. Its use is at present mainly for feeding farm ani- mals, for which purpose the seeds must be removed, as they have a diuretic effect, which is especially undesirable for milking cows. The