A farmhand in a wide-brimmed pale hat, blue shirt and dark vest stands in profile left of center, looking away to the left with a large pumpkin cradled in the crook of an arm. The figure is loosely painted with no detailed facial features. Around the figure, ripe pumpkins rest among olive-green leaves and trailing vines in the foreground and at the right edge, with rows of blue-gray cabbages and tall dry corn stalks at the left edge.

A low horizon lets a quiet, pale sky dominate, and the distant hills fade into mist through atmospheric perspective. The light is soft and overcast, as in late autumn. Wet-on-wet washes, bleeding edges, dry-brush flecks and bare paper left unpainted, with small opaque touches of gouache on leaves and pumpkins, give the vintage field-study look of a late-19th-century American watercolor.