APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1915. 81 



40783 and 40784. Cucumis sativus L. Cucurbitacere. 



Cucumber. 

 From Seharunpur, India. Presented by Mr. A. C. Hartless, superintendent, 

 Government Gardens. Received May 19, 1915. Quoted notes by Mr. 

 Hartless. 



40783. " Tins is a variety of the common cucumber of dwarf bushy 

 habit, producing an egg-shaped fruit, dark green and more or less 

 mottled with white markings when young and of the same rusty brown 

 color when ripe. Although not the gherkin of the West Indies, familiar 

 to most persons in its pickled state, its fruit resembles that of the 

 latter; hence its Anglo-Indian appellation. Like the common climbing 

 cucumber, it will succeed in any good soil, but it requires more aid 

 from manure than the former to bear abundantly. When preparing 

 the ground for the reception of the seed, it should therefore be liberally 

 enriched with manure of the farmyard class, then laid out in ridges G 

 inches high and 15 inches apart, and the seeds sown along the two sides 

 of the ridges at 3 or 4 inches asunder. The furrows between the 

 ridges should be watered every fourth or fifth day, and the soil stirred 

 and loosened at every opportunity. As the plants yield the immature 

 fruit required at table for only a limited period of time, sowings should 

 be made at intervals of a fortnight from the beginning of .March to 

 the end of May. This variety of cucumber is a purely hot-weather 

 crop and does not succeed if sown during the rainy season." 



40784. " Long green ; rainy season." 



40785 to 40787. 



From Tiflis, Caucasus, Russia. Presented by the director, Botanic Gardens. 

 Received May 10. 1915. 



40785. Mespilxjs gekmanica L. Malacesese. Medlar. 

 (Pyrus germanica Hook, f.) 



See S. P. I. Nos. 8298, _!T7<i^. and 29197 for previous introductions and 



description. 



"A low deciduous tree of crooked, picturesque habit, usually under 20 

 feet high; young branchlets very hairy, older ones armed with stiff, 

 straight spines one-bait' to 1 inch long. Leaves almost without stalks, 

 lanceolate or oval. 2 to 5 inches long, minutely toothed, downy on both 

 surfaces, but more so beneath. Flowers solitary at the end of short 

 leafy branches; about 1 inch across, white or slightly pink, produced on 

 a very short woolly stalk, in May or early June. Petals five, roundish; 

 sepals covered with gray wool, triangular at the base, drawn otr into a 

 long, narrow point standing out beyond the petals. Fruit 5 celled, apple 

 shaped, brown, with a broad open eye. surrounded by the persistent 

 calyx, and showing the ends of the bony seed vessels. The wild medlar 

 is a native of Europe and Asia Minor, and is found wild in the woods of 

 several counties in the south of England, notably Sussex and Kent, but 

 it is not believed to lie truly indigenous. It has long been cultivated for 

 its fruit in English orchards, and several named varieties exist. The 

 cultivated forms are distinguished by thornless or nearly thornless 

 branches, by larger, broader leaves, and by larger fruits, up to li or 2 

 inches across. Although much esteemed by those who have acquired the 

 taste for them, medlars are not a popular fruit. They should be left on 



