seo. so.] garden culinary vegetables. 483 



5-t.3. €«curbita— Conrds.— Tlic foinily of cucurlnta, cinbracinp even-thing 



from gourds to ciiciiiiiburs, appwirs in an alinost cotiiitlcs.s varii-ty of forms, 

 under some of wliicli it is to lie found in almost every •,'arden. In our 

 youthful days, almost every family raised a few gourtls, and very conve- 

 nient tliini,'s they were, not only fjr water dippers, hut holders of a' {,'reat 

 many little artielcs. AVc used them for storehouses of small seeds. At tlio 

 South, and in some of the new portions of the West, gounU are still grown 

 to a considcral)lc extent, and when wo traveled through most of the South- 

 western St^ites between IS-IO and 1S50, we should have thought something 

 was lacking if we had not found a pail and one or more drinking-gounls at 

 some convenient spot about the house — generally on the front jiiazzn, whero 

 every traveler could help himself to a drink of water. Often, too, on visit- 

 ing the springs by the roadside or in the ])lantations, wo have found the in- 

 dispensable gourd hanging to a tree. They are grown of all sizes, from a 

 gill to a gallon ; and one kind that grows without the elongation for a 

 liandle we have seen of the capacity of half a bushel, and the shell so liar<l 

 that they would last many years for dry storage. In Texas, a variety with 

 a depression in the middle, and bulb of equal size at each end, is fre<)uently 

 used to carry water on horseback, it is so convenient to lash to the sadfile. 

 A little drinking-gourd, a# hard as wood, and almost white, holding about 

 a third of a pint, was given us by a lady in Mississippi, which accompanied 

 us during many thousand miles of journeying, and out of which we had 

 many a sweet drink of water from roadside springs. Xo one thought it 

 worth while to steal a gourd from the wagon, while a tumbler, tin cup, or 

 earthen mug would jirobably have disappeared the first night. TVe heartily 

 commend tiiis good old fashion of growing gourds to the nttentitm of hi! 

 farmers. It will save many a dollar used up in tin cnps and dipper*, and 

 costly, fragile glass and earthenware. 



544. CilClimbfrs.— These rarely fail if planted in hills made as rich as il is 

 possible to make them, six or eight feet apart, leaving only two or three 

 plants to run to vines from each hill, and sometimes that is too many, llio 

 ground must be kept free of wee<ls in all the stages of growth of vines, to 

 fnsurc a good crop. A \;ery good way to raise a few early cucumbers for 

 family use is to fill a barrel or larger cask with hog-pen or other rich ma- 

 nure, covered with sand, and set it in the grass-j.hif, near the house, whero it 

 can be watered every day— no matter how otk-n. We have seen a -"xl lot 

 of cucumbers grown by" earthing over the ash-leach and letting the vine* 

 hang over the sides. This also requires frequent watering, for that id the 

 gre^t source of all great garden productions. Without it, high munuring is 



worthless. n i i r i 



Terhaps the earliest variety is one lately introduce.!, called tlic l--arly 

 Russian It is prolific, and luatures for the table ten days scH.ncr than iho 

 Earlv Cluster, or Earlv Frame, or Short (ircon. The Karly Wh:t.^.piiH><l 

 sort is considered best for the table. It is larger than the other early »..rt», 

 6trai"ht, Bmooth, and dark green. For pickles, there arc several good --.. • 



