CUCURBITACEZ. 
in ripening. The crop coming in at the decline of summer 
will not ripen well, unless guarded from cold at nights, and 
assisted by linings. The fruit that do not ripen may be used 
for mangoes. 
“ Wide ridge, or the fruiting-bed, may be made 6, 7, or 8 
feet wide, for the plants to have an ample surface for their ex- 
tending runners, defended either with a regular frame, and glasses 
of proportionate dimensions, or a case formed of an inch and a 
half boarding, ranged connectedly along both sides of the bed, 
without any external cross divisions, other than top cross bars, 
to stay the sides and support the glasses.” 
Method of growing crops of melons in the open borders.—The 
mode of growing cucumbers on ridges of shallow beds of half-spent 
dung in the open air, is well known to gardeners ; and in warm 
situations melons may be grown in the same manner. ‘The sorts 
grown by Mr. Greenshields were the black rocks, grcen-fleshed, 
netted, and early cantaloup. The seeds of the first crop were 
sown about the middle of March, in pots in a cucumber-frame, 
and the bed or ridge was prepared in the first or second week 
in May, 4 feet wide, and 1 foot higher at the back or north 
side than in front. Hand-glasses, with 2 or 3 plants in each, 
are placed, 4 feet apart, along the centre of the bed. Very 
little air is given till the plants have filled the glasses, but when 
these appear to get crowded with vines, the glasses are raised 
up, and the plants allowed to grow up in the manner of ridged 
cucumbers. If the vines are very thicky a few of the weakest 
may be pinched off, and the top of each leading shoot or vine 
removed. No more pruning will be necessary for the season. 
Setting the fruit at this season of the year is quite necessary. 
To have handsome fruit, not more than one or two should be 
left on the plant. They will begin to ripen about the first week 
in August, and continue to be produced through that month and 
part of September. To prolong the season, seeds may be sown 
three weeks later, planted out like the first crop, and when there 
is appearance of frosty nights, a cucumber-frame and sashes 
may be placed over them. By this means tolerably good melons 
may be had till the end of October.—Greenshields, ex Loud. 
gard. mag. 3. p. 182. 
_ There is another method of cultivating melons in the open 
air; that is, to raise a bed of old tan, and tramp it well and 
firmly down, placing some stakes and boards behind to keep up 
the tan, so that the bed may slope in front; 6 inches of mould 
should be placed on the tan, and the melon plants planted into 
it. Grass or leaves may be placed at the back of the bed to 
keep up the heat. The plants should be reared on a hot-bed. 
Melon. Fi. July, Sept. Cit. 1597. Pl. tr. 
2 C. pexicidsus (Roth. cat. 3. p. 307.) angles of leaves blunt; 
fruit roundish-ovate, pubescent, with white, very fragrant flesh, 
and a thin rind. ©. F. Native of the East Indies, but now 
cultivated in Spain. Perhaps only a variety of the common 
melon. 
Delicious Melon. Fl. June, Sept. Clt. 1818. PI. tr. 
3 C. sativus (Lin. spec. 1437.) stems rough, bearing ten- 
drils ; leaves cordate, obscurely 5-lobed, petiolate, terminal lobe 
the largest; flowers on short peduncles, largish, usually by 
threes; male flowers having the tube of the calyx tubularly- 
campanulate, and with a spreading deflexed limb ; fruit Jong, 
somewhat triquetrous, smooth or prickly, and usually shining, 
having the carpels distinctly separable in the inside. ©. F. 
Native of Tartary and the East Indies.—Blackw. herb. t. 4.— 
Lob. stirp. 363. f. 1. The cucumber is called Ketimou and 
T: imou by the Hindoos. Flowers yellow, as in the rest of the 
species, s 
The cucumber is called concombre in French; gurke in Ger- 
man; and Citriuolo in Italian ; it is a tender annual, a native of 
the East Indies, and was introduced in 1573. Itisa trailing 
8 
IV. Cucumis. 15 
and climbing plant, with large, roundish, rough leaves, furnished 
with tendrils, and if sown in the open air in May, produces 
flowers from July to August. The cucumber is of nearly as 
great antiquity as the vine, for Moses, the earliest Jewish author, 
mentions it as abounding in Egypt when the children of Israel 
were there, above 3000 years ago. (Numbers, chap. ii.) In 
England it is cultivated generally and extensively in forcing 
frames, and in the open air, and especially near large cities and 
towns. ‘* Not only gentlemen,” as M‘Phail observes, “ but 
almost every tradesman who has a garden and dung, have their 
cucumber-frame.” In Hertfordshire, whole fields are annually 
seen covered with cucumbers, without the aid of dung or glass, 
and the produce of which is sent to the metropolis for pickling. 
In march, cucumbers fetch in the London market a guinea a 
dozen ; in August and September a penny a dozen. The village 
of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, has been known to furnish 10,000 
bushels of pickling cucumbers in one week. 
Use.—The green fruit is used as salad; it is also salted when 
half grown; and preserved in vinegar when young and small. 
In Germany and Poland, barrels of half, and also full grown 
cucumbers, are preserved from one year to another by immersion 
in deep wells, where the uniform temperature and exclusion of 
air seem to be the preserving agents. 
Varieties. —The principal of these are as follow :— 
List of cucumbers. 
1 Early long prickly.—This fruit is from 5-7 inches long, of 
a green colour, with few prickles. The plant is a good bearer, 
and upon the whole this is the best cucumber for the general 
summer crop, the flesh being very crisp and pleasant. 
2 Largest green prickly.—From 7-10 inches long ; it has a 
dark green skin, closely set with small prickles. This is a hardy 
sort, but does not come early. 
3 Early short prickly—Not more than 4 inches long; the 
skin green and rather smooth, but with a few small black 
prickles. This is one of the hardiest and earliest sorts, and is 
often preferred for the first crop. 
4 Dutch or white short prickly—Though not much cultivated, 
is recommended by some as preferable even to the early long 
prickly ; it has fewer seeds, is evidently different in taste from 
most other cucumbers, but of agreeable flavour. 
5 Cluster cucumber.—A very early sort; the flowers appear 
in clusters of 3 or 4 together; the fruit is seldom more than 5 
inches long; it is at first of a fine green colour, but becomes 
yellowish as it ripens. The stems of this variety are much in- 
clined to climb by means of their tendrils upon sticks; the 
leaves are small, and the plant altogether occupies but little room. 
6 Smooth green Roman.—An early sort; the fruit becomes 
large and long, and is quite smooth ; the plants grow very strong, 
and require a good deal of room. 
7 White Turkey.—The stalks and leaves are larger than in the 
other varieties ; the fruit also is very long, sofnetimes from 10- 
15, or even 20 inches; it is quite straight, and has a smooth 
skin, destitute of prickles; it is produced sparingly, and late in 
the season. 
8 Long green Turkey.—Sometimes sown for the late crop. 
Late cucumbers, however, are much less cultivated than the 
early varieties, most gardeners being of opinion, that those 
kinds which are best for the early crop, are also best for the late. 
9 Nipaul.—Fruit very large, usually weighs upwards of 12 
lbs., measures in girth 24 inches, and in length 17 inches ; flavour 
pleasant, and esteemed for standing. It is a native of Nipaul, 
from whence it was introduced to the botanical garden at Cal- 
cutta; but it is not likely that it ever will be much cultivated 
in this country. 
Culture.—The culture of the cucumber, as a table esculent, 
