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My letter to De Judge!

I thought you all my snjoy the continuing saga of the judge who doesn't
know a pumpkin from a squash. Here is the text of my first letter to him,
faxed last night. I also faxed the Web pages with Bill Greer's 1006 pumpkin
on it and Bill Verchere's pictures of his "papa" pumpkin. But these will
have gone through in black and white and they weren't all that clear in the
stem end, anyway, so keep those cards and letters coming, kiddies!

****************************************

Fax to: Michael Betts, British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries,
and Food, 250-656-8922

From: Denise Beck, fax 250-537-0014

September 21, 1997

Dear Mr. Betts, 

I am the grower of the 110 pound Atlantic Giant Pumpkin that was entered in
this weekend’s Fall Fair on Salt Spring Island.  This is the pumpkin that
you decided, based on erroneous information, must be a squash.  This, I
understand, is because you are under the mis-apprehension that all pumpkins
must have a five-pointed stem to skin interface, and that any fruit that
does not have this interface must, ergo, be a squash.

This is flawed logic.  If you look at the stem of an acorn squash, you will
observe that it has the same dark green five-pointed interface.  Does this
then mean that the acorn squash is actually a pumpkin in disguise?  Of
course not.  An acorn squash is considered a squash for the purposes of
judging a horticultural show, and an Atlantic pumpkin, though it does have
the rounded, fleshier stem shared by Hubbard squash, is indeed to be
considered a pumpkin.

The fact that you are so dismally unfamiliar with the famous Atlantic Giant
Pumpkin variety is a lamentable, but I believe correctable, gap in your
otherwise (I am assured by the fair organizers) perfect and complete
knowledge of field crops.  I am, therefore, going to make it my task to
fill in this gap in your understanding.

The Atlantic Pumpkin variety is the single variety that is being grown by
serious pumpkin growers for size competitions, and mine is no exception. 
The current record-holder is one grown by the Zehrs in New York state,
which weighed in at 1064 pounds!  When you take into account that prize
money in major pumpkin competitions can be upwards of $20,000, and include
such extras as an all-expense-paid trip to Japan, then you will understand
the seriousness of a judge who mistakenly re-categorizes an Atlantic Giant
as a squash, therefore casting aspersions on the intelligence of the grower
as well as her pumpkin!

I am sending you the first of a series of faxes with information about the
Atlantic Giant pumpkin.  I hope you will take a good look at the stems, all
of which match the stem on my pumpkin, and do not have the five-pointed
star interface. 

And I truly hope that should you be judging giant pumpkins again, you will
not make such an egregious error as to call a pumpkin a squash!

Sincerely yours,

Denise Beck

*********************
Denise McCann Beck
USDA Zone 7
Sunset Western 4
Coastal Bristish Columbia
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