224 OTJE COMMON FETJITS. 



familiar to many as the fairy chariot of Cinderella than 

 as an article of consumption ; and, as it sometimes attains 

 the size of 4 ft. in circumference, it may, on the memo- 

 rable occasion of having been thus appropriated, have 

 needed at least very little enlargement to fit it for the 

 accommodation of so slender a sylph. A far hardier plant 

 than the melon, in a rich soil and warm situation, the 

 Pumpkin, or, as it was formerly and, we are told, still 

 ought to be called, the Pompion, grows luxuriantly and 

 ripens its fruit perfectly in the open air in England ; and 

 in its favourite situation, trailing over a manure-heap, it 

 is not only useful in assisting to decompose crude mate- 

 rial, but, veiling the unsightly mass with its large hand- 

 some leaves, can turn an eyesore into almost an ornament. 

 Remarkably rapid in its growth, when well supplied with 

 water it will form shoots 40 or 50 ft. long, so that a single 

 plant may extend in one season over an eighth of an acre of 

 ground. The fruit occupied, says Soyer, " a prominent 

 place in the precious catalogue of Roman dainties, being 

 stewed or boiled in oil or water, and served with various 

 seasonings ; " and growing abundantly in the warmer 

 parts of each quarter of the globe, it is still much used 

 as food in many countries, though mostly as furnishing 

 an article of sustenance to the poor, rather than of plea- 

 sure for the luxuriant. It seems to have been earlier 

 introduced into this country than either of its allies, the 

 Cucumber or the Melon, and it is indeed credibly sup- 

 posed that it was the " melon " of early English writers, 

 to whom the true fruit of that name was unknown, or who 

 were accustomed to distinguish it as the "Musk Melon." 

 Gerard, however, speaks of " Pompions," which are never 

 eaten raw, but mixed with apples in pies a use which he 

 justly condemns or boiled in milk or fried in butter. To 

 the latter process it is still often subjected on the Con- 

 tinent, where too it is yet more commonly made into 

 soups and stews, a system we should do well to adopt 

 here, where the worst method of disposing of it is now 

 almost the only one prevalent ; since soupe a la citrouille 

 very easily made by merely stewing sliced pumpkin in 

 milk, enriched with a little butter or gravy, and seasoned 



