GOURD. 15^ 



" Sometimes a poet from that bridge might see 

 A nymph reach downwards, holding by a bough 

 With tresses o'er her brow ; 

 And with her white back stoop 

 The pushing stream to scoop 

 In a green gourd cup, shining sunnily." 



Hunt's Nymphs, 



Cowper appears in the following passage to have con- 

 founded the Gourd with the cucumber : 



" To raise the prickly and green-coated gourd. 

 So grateful to the palate, and, when rare. 

 So coveted ; else base and disesteemed. 

 Food for the vulgar merely * ; is an art 

 That toiling ages have but just matured." 



GREEK VALERIAN. 



POLEMONIUM C^RULEUM. 



POLKMONIACEiE. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Jacob's Ladder ; Ladder to Heaven. 



This plant has no affinity to the valerian : it has only 

 some little resemblance in the shape of the leaves. The 

 flowers are pretty, blue or white, and open about the end 

 of May. It is a native of Asia and the North of Europe. 

 The seeds may be sown in spring, in a fresh light soil, not 

 very rich. At Michaelmas they may be transplanted into 

 separate pots, of a middle size : or they may be in- 



* A new species of Gourd has been very lately introduced from 

 Persia under the name of vegetable marrow ; the flesh, when not fully 

 ripe, having a peculiar softness, and, when peeled and boiled, re- 

 sembling the buttery quality of the beurre pears. It is easily culti- 

 vated, and promises to be a great acquisition to our tables. 



