CUCUUBlTACEjE. IV. CUCUMIS. 



15 



in ripening. The crop coming in at the decline of summer 

 will not ripen well, unless guarded from cold at nights, and 

 assisted by linings. The fruit that do not ripen may be used 

 for mangoes. 



" Wide ridge, or the fruiting-bed, may be made 6, 7, or 8 

 feet wide, for the plants to have an ample surface for their ex- 

 tending runners, defended either with a regular frame, and glasses 

 of proportionate dimensions, or a case formed of an inch and a 

 half boarding, ranged connectedly along both sides of the bed, 

 without any external cross divisions, other than top cross bars, 

 to stay the sides and support the glasses." 



Method of growing crops of melons in the open borders. The 

 modeof growing cucumbers on ridges of shallow beds of half-spent 

 dung in the open air, is well known to gardeners ; and in warm 

 situations melons may be grown in the same manner. The sorts 

 grown by Mr. Greenshields were the black rocks, green-fleshed, 

 netted, and early cantaloup. The seeds of the first crop were 

 sown about the middle of March, in pots in a cucumber-frame, 

 and the bed or ridge was prepared in the first or second week 

 in May, 4 feet wide, and 1 foot higher at the back or north 

 side than in front. Hand-glasses, with 2 or 3 plants in each, 

 are placed, 4 feet apart, aleng the centre of the bed. Very 

 little air is given till the plants have filled the glasses, but when 

 these appear to get crowded with vines, the glasses are raised 

 up, and the plants allowed to grow up in the manner of ridged 

 cucumbers. If the vines are very thick, a few of the weakest 

 may be pinched off, and the top of each leading shoot or vine 

 removed. No more pruning will be necessary for the season. 

 Setting the fruit at this season of the year is quite necessary. 

 To have handsome fruit, not more than one or two should be 

 left on the plant. They will begin to ripen about the first week 

 in August, and continue to be produced through that month and 

 part of September. To prolong the season, seeds may.be sown 

 three weeks later, planted out like the first crop, and when there 

 is appearance of frosty nights, -a cucumber-frame arrd sashes 

 may be placed over them. By this means tolerably good melons 

 may be had till the end of October. Greenshields, ex Loud, 

 gard. mag. 3. p. 182. 



There is another method of cultivating melons in the open 

 air ; that is, to raise a bed of old tan, and tramp it well and 

 firmly down, placing some stakes and boards behind to keep up 

 the tan, so that the bed may slope in front ; 6 inches of mould 

 should be placed on the tan, and the melon plants planted into 

 it. Grass or leaves may be placed at the back of the bed to 

 keep up the heat. The plants should be reared on a hot-bed. 



Melon. Fl. July, Sept. Clt. 1597. Pl.tr. 



2 C. DELICIOSDS (Roth. cat. 3. p. 307.) angles of leaves blunt; 

 fruit roundish-ovate, pubescent, with white, very fragrant flesh, 

 and a thin rind. O- F. Native of the East Indies, but now 

 cultivated in Spain. Perhaps only a variety of the common 

 melon. 



Delicious Melon. Fl. June, Sept. Clt. 1818. Pl.tr. 



3 C. SATIVUS (Lin. spec. 1437.) stems rough, bearing ten- 

 drils ; leaves cordate, obscurely 5-lobed, petiolate, terminal lobe 

 the largest ; flowers on short peduncles, largish, usually by 

 threes ; male flowers having the tube of the calyx tubularly- 

 campanulate, and with a spreading deflexed limb ; fruit long, 

 somewhat triquetrous, smooth or prickly, and usually shining, 



wing the carpels distinctly separable in the inside. Q. F. 

 Native of Tartary and the East Indies. Blackw. herb. t. 4. 

 Lob. stirp. -303. f. 1. The cucumber is called Ketimou and 

 Timou by the .Hindoos. Flowers yellow, as in the rest of the 

 species. 



The cucumber is called concombre in French ; gurke in Ger- 

 man ; and Cilriuolo in Italian ; it is a tender annual, a native of 

 the East Indies, and was introduced in 1573. It is a trailing 



8 



and climbing plant, with large, roundish, rough leaves, furnished 

 with tendrils, and if sown in the open air in May, produces 

 flowers from July to August. The cucumber is of nearly as 

 great antiquity as the vine, for Moses, the earliest Jewish author, 

 mentions it as abounding in Egypt when the children of Israel 

 were there, above 3000 years ago. (Numbers, chap, ii.) In 

 England it is cultivated generally and extensively in forcing 

 frames, and in the open air, and especially near large cities and 

 towns. " Not only gentlemen," as M'Phail observes, " but 

 almost every tradesman who has a garden and dung, have their 

 cucumber-frame." In Hertfordshire, whole fields are annually 

 seen covered with cucumbers, without the aid of dung or glass, 

 and the produce of which is sent to the metropolis for pickling. 

 In march, cucumbers fetch in the London market a guinea a 

 dozen; in August and September a penny a dozen. The village 

 of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, has been known to furnish 10,000 

 bushels of pickling cucumbers in one week. 



Use. The green fruit is used as salad ; it is also salted when 

 half grown ; and preserved in vinegar when young and small. 

 In Germany and Poland, barrels of half, and also full grown 

 cucumbers, are preserved from one year to another by immersion 

 in deep wells, where the uniform temperature and exclusion of 

 air seem to be the preserving agents. 



Varieties. The principal of these are as follow : 



List of cucumbers. 



1 Early long prickly. This fruit is from 5-7 inches long, of 

 a green colour, with few prickles. The plant is a good bearer, 

 and upon the whole this is the best cucumber for the general 

 summer crop, the flesh being very crisp and pleasant. 



2 Largest green prickly. From 7-10 inches long; it has a 

 dark green skin, closely set with small prickles. This is a hardy 

 sort, but does not come early. 



3 Early short prickly. Not more than 4 inches long ; the 

 skin green and rather smooth, but with a few small black 

 prickles. This, is one of the hardiest and earliest sorts, and is 

 often preferred for the first crop. 



4 Dutch or white short prickly. Though not much cultivated, 

 is recommended by some as preferable even to the early long 

 prickly; it has fewer s,eeds, is evidently different in taste from 

 most other cucumbers, but of agreeable flavour. 



5 Cluster cucumber. A very early sort ; the flowers appear 

 in clusters of 3 or 4 together; the fruit is seldom more than 5 

 inches long ; it is at first of a fine green colour, but becomes 

 yellowish as it ripens. The stems of this variety are much in- 

 clined to climb by means of their tendrils upon sticks ; the 

 leaves are small, and the plant altogether occupies but little room. 



6 Smooth green Roman. An early sort ; the fruit becomes 

 large and long, and is quite smooth ; the plants grow very strong, 

 and require a good deal of room. 



7 White Turkey. The stalks and leaves are larger than in the 

 other varieties ; the fruit also is very long, sometimes from 1 0- 

 15, or even 20 inches ; it is quite straight, and has a smooth 

 skin, destitute of prickles ; it is produced sparingly, and late in 

 the season. 



8 Long green Turkey. Sometimes sown for the late crop. 

 Late cucumbers, however, are much less cultivated than the 

 early varieties, most gardeners being of opinion, that those 

 kinds which are best for the early crop, are also best for the late. 



9 Nipaul. Fruit very large, usually weighs upwards of 12 

 Ibs., measures in girth 24 inches, and in length 17 inches ; flavour 

 pleasant, and esteemed for standing. It is a native of Nipaul, 

 from whence it was introduced to the botanical garden at Cal- 

 cutta ; but it is not likely that it ever will be much cultivated 

 in this country. 



Culture. The culture of the cucumber, as a table esculent, 



