lO 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G O SSIF. 



ties. Gourds were held in higher estimation by the 

 Romans than either melons or cucumbers, as they 

 were employed for more useful purposes than the 

 former fruits. They were considered a light, mild, 

 wholesome food. The young and tender stalks used 

 to be cooked and served up to table as a good dish. 

 The fhiit of the roof gourds were considered superior 

 to those which crept on the ground. In Pliny's 

 time large gourds were used as jugs and pitchers 

 in the baths ; but long before that time he tells 

 us they had been employed as casks for keeping 

 wine. Nisander tells us that the ancient Greeks 

 used to preserve gourds by the following methods : — 

 Gutting them into moderate-size pieces and stringing 

 them like beads to dry in the air ; then smoke them. 

 When wanted for use, each piece was well washed 

 and put into the stewpan with various herbs, such 

 as cabbages, endive, and dried mushrooms. The 

 Romans also preserved gourds and cucumbers, we 

 are told, for some months by putting them into brine. 

 Pliny states that the seeds of the Gourd ought to 

 be steeped in water before sowing, and the proper 

 time for that operation should be between the vernal 

 equinox and summer solstice, about the season of the 

 festival celebrating the anniversary of the foundation 

 of Rome called Purilia. The Roman gardeners used 

 to force gourds to grow into various fantastic shapes 

 by putting them into moulds when quite young ; thus 

 we are told that they were made to resemble a dragon, 

 a leg of a man, &c. 



Pliny speaks of wild cucumbers and gourds which 

 were possessed of certain medical properties, and 

 gives us a list of eleven remedies for which they 

 were applied. The leaves of the Pumpkin steeped 

 in wine were considered good for the bite of dogs 

 and insects, called Sep by the Greeks, perhaps one 

 of the centipede tribe. The seeds were used as a 

 charm to cure the ague. 



According to L'Obel, the Pompion or Pumpkin 

 was introduced into this country from the Levant 

 in 1570, and till about 1815 this was the principal 

 plant of the Gourd kind cultivated in the British 

 gardens. 



Parkinson mentions, in his *' Paradisi " (1629), that 

 in his time only one kind of Pompion was cultivated, 

 but that it would be a waste of time to recite all the 

 forms and colours in which Nature listeth to show 

 herself in this plant. In using it as a culinaiy vegetable, 

 he tells us that it was customary to take out the inner 

 watery substance with the seeds, and fill up the 

 place with pippins, and having laid on the cover 

 which was cut off from the top to take out the pulp, 

 bake them together ; and the poor of the city as 

 well as the country people do eat thereof as a dainty 

 dish. 



Gerard, in his "Herbal" (1636), says there be 

 divers sorts of gourds — some wild, others tame for the 

 garden ; some bearing fruit like unto a bottle, others 

 longer and bigger at the end, keeping no certain form 



or fashion. He tells us that the juice of the Gourd 

 being popped into the ear with oil of roses is good 

 for the pain thereof^ proceeding from a hot cause. It 

 is also affirmed that the long gourd or cucumber, 

 being laid in the cradle or bed by the young infant 

 whilst it is asleep and sick of the ague, it shall very 

 quickly be made whole. 



According to Miller, pompions v/ere the melons of 

 our early horticulturists, which word was corrupted 

 into millions, a name by which they are still known 

 in some parts of England by the uneducated classes. 

 It was usual in Miller's time, as in the present day, 

 for the English cottagers to plant pumpkins on their 

 manure-heaps in the fields and gardens, letting the 

 shoots train along the grass, without taking much 

 trouble or care of them. In the second volume of the 

 "Transactions of the Horticultural Society," there is a 

 description, with an account of the cultivation and 

 figure of the Gourd called Vegetable Marrow(5'«(:(frta?<z), 

 read in December, 1816, by Mr. J. Sabine. It had 

 not long been then known in this country. The most 

 probable account of its introduction is that the first 

 seeds were brought here in one of our East-Indian 

 ships, and came most likely from Pei^sia, where it is 

 known and called Cicrader. Phillips states that the 

 Vegetable Marrow was not seen for sale in our shops 

 or markets before 1 819. It is now extensively grown, 

 and the fruit generally used for culinary purposes in 

 every stage of its growth. This plant is considered as 

 a variety of the Pumpkin. 



Where the climate is warm enough for them, all 

 the varieties of Gourd are cultivated, and form a 

 very important article of human food ; the super- 

 abundant slioots are also used for feeding cattle. 

 In America and islands of the West Indies, they are 

 extensively cultivated, and some species grow to 

 an enormous size. The Rev. ■ — Griffiths, in his 

 "Natural History of Barbadoes " (1750), mentions 

 some which, when cleared of their pith, are capable 

 of containing twenty-two gallons ; but he adds, how- 

 ever, such are very uncommon. Phillips relates that, 

 in some parts of America, the jugglers or quacks 

 extract the pulp out of the pumpkins, and fill them 

 with stones, with which they make a great noise and 

 pretend to frighten away all complaints of their 

 superstitious patients. 



The Squash {C. Melopepd) is another kind of 

 gourd, which is a great favourite with the Ame- 

 ricans. Gourds were found growing by Captain 

 Cook in the Sandwich Islands of an enormous size. 

 The inhabitants applied them to all manner of 

 domestic purposes ; and, in order to fit them better 

 to their respective uses, they had the ingenuity to 

 give them different forms by tying bandages round 

 them during their growth ; they also had a method 

 of scorching them with a heated instrument, so as 

 to give them the appearance of being painted in a 

 variety of neat and elegant forms. Specimens of 

 these gourds are to be seen in most museums and 



