260 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



CUCUMBERS 



The balsam apple and the burr cucumber, that 

 wind their branching tendrils over the shrubby 

 growth of neglected fence rows, along the river 

 banks, and hang their spiny fruits where all can 

 see, are the wild representatives we have of a great 

 botanical family, that has furnished us many use- 

 ful garden vegetables and fruits. In the Order 

 Cucurbitacese, belong melons, pumpkins, squashes, 

 gourds, and cucumbers. Any one would class 

 them together, for all have the distinct form and 

 seed arrangement that the botanists call a pepo. 



The English gardener classes pumpkin and 

 squash and vegetable marrow under the group 

 name, gourd. This is not the American way. 

 We group all under the name, cucurbits. The 

 members prove their tropical origin by being 

 sensitive to cold, requiring, in northern gardens, 

 to be started in warm quarters, and set in the 

 ground when the weather is warm. 



They have another peculiarity: they get a 

 severe check in growth if the roots are disturbed 

 by transplanting. The practice is to start the 

 seeds in bricks of inverted sod, or in soil packed in 

 flower pots or berry boxes. The sod or box can 

 be set in the ground without disturbing the little 



