200 



CUCUMIS CUCURBITACEyE. 



successful, perfect fruit may be had about Christmas, 

 or soon after ; but, as it is only adepts in the art of 

 forcing who can insure such a result, few gardeners 

 begin hotbed-forcing before the 1st of January, 

 especially where there are pineries in which cu- 

 cumbers may be had throughout the winter. But, 

 whenever hotbed-forcing is commenced, the same 

 processes as detailed above are had recourse to, even 

 up to the time they are planted in the open air, 

 except only that the beds are not made so substantial, 

 nor are linings so often required as in winter. 



Cucumbers are successfully cultivated in the open 

 air by the assistance of small pitfuls of hot dung and 

 hand-glasses. About the beginning of April, seeds 

 are sown in a hotbed in quantity according to the 

 number of hand-glasses intended to be used. The 

 seedlings, when fit, are potted into forty-eight or 

 thirty-two sized pots, three plants in each. These 

 are kept in the hotbed, stopped, watered, &c., till 

 about the 20th of May, when the pits or ridges 

 should be ready to receive them. A row of pits, 

 each two feet square and fourteen inches deep, are 

 made, the earth being laid round in the form of a 

 ridge lengthways. The pits are two feet apart from 

 each other, and are filled with hot dung prepared for 

 the purpose, firmly beaten in, and raised somewhat 

 higher than the natural surface of the ground. In 

 the centre of the dung, in each pit, direction-sticks are 

 placed, which serve to point out the depth of compost 

 to be laid on, as well as the exact place of the hand- 

 glasses. Round these sticks the compost is laid in a 

 square form, to receive the glasses, which, for the 

 sake of regularity, are set by line. Next day the 

 heat will have warmed the compost ; a pot of plants 

 is turned out, and placed in the centre where the 

 direction-sticks stood ; water is given, and the glasses 

 put on, and shaded with a mat for a day or two, till 

 the plants have recovered the check of removal. On 

 the third, and every following day, the glasses should 

 be tilted on the south side by a brickbat, and shut close 

 down again on nights, and always also in inclement 

 weather. Three feet of the ground, on each side of 

 the glasses, should be dunged and digged, working 

 the earth towards the glasses in a ridge-like form, on 

 which the branches of the plants are laid when they 

 are laid out from under the glasses. This takes place 

 when the leaves and vines have filled the glasses ; 

 the latter are then lifted off, and the former are laid 

 out around, and carefully secured to the ground by 

 small hooks. The glasses are again replaced, but 

 supported by bats all round. This replacing of the 

 glasses is not for the purpose of attracting or keeping 

 in heat, but for defending the dung and stems from 

 immoderate and chilling rain. 



This method of growing cucumbers is well imitated 

 by the cottager, who uses green weeds instead 6f 

 dung, and an old garment instead of a hand-glass. 



Cucumbers for pickling may be grown without 

 hot-dung pits, if the plants be raised in a hotbed, and 

 planted out on warm borders about the end of May ; 

 or, on the same situation, if the seeds of the short 

 prickly sort be sown on well digged rich ground, 

 a fair yield of picklers may be obtained before the 

 frosts of autumn kill the plants. 



There are many varieties of this plant. The 

 favourite kinds for early forcing are the Early Frame, 

 Long Frame, and the Fine Southgate. For ridging 

 out under hand-glasses, there are 



The Kidge Cucumber, Early Cluster. 



Long Prickly, Green Prickly, 



Short Prickly, White Turkey, and the 



White Spined, Green Turkey. 



CUCUMIS (Linnaeus). A rather extensive and 

 useful genus of creeping or climbing annual plants, 

 natives of many different parts of the warmer regions 

 of the world. Linneean class and -Border Monceda. 

 Monadclphia, and natural order Cucurbttaceee. For 

 descriptions of this genus and its alliances, see CUCUR- 



BITACKjE. 



CUCURBITACE.E the gourd family. A 

 natural order of dicotyledonous plants, containing 

 twenty-one known genera, and nearly two hundred 

 species. It is closely allied to Passiflorcc, differing 

 however from this order in its monopetalous corolla, 

 sinuous stamens, unisexual flowers and exalbuminous 

 seeds. It also bears some affinity to Myrtacece and 

 Onagrariscc. The essential characters of the order 

 are : flowers usually unisexual ; sepals five, more or 

 less united, sometimes obsolete; petals five, often 

 more or less united, and sometimes continuous with 

 the calyx, with strongly marked reticulated veins, 

 sometimes fringed ; stamens five, distinct or cohering 

 in three bundles ; anthers two-celled, very long and 

 sinuous ; ovary inferior, one-celled, combined with 

 the calyx ; style short ; stigmas three to five, two- 

 lobed, thick, velvety, or fringed ; fruit fleshy, more 

 or less succulent, crowned by the scar of the calyx, 

 one-celled, with three parietal placentas ; seeds flat, 

 ovate, enveloped in an arillus, which is either juicy or 

 dry and membranous ; testa coriaceous, often thick at 

 the margin ; embryo straight, without albumen ; coty- 

 ledons foliaceous, veined ; radicle next the hilum. 



The plants belonging to this order are herbs, 

 having annual or perennial, fibrous or tuberous roots, 

 succulent stems climbing by means of lateral tendrils, 

 palmated alternate, rough leaves, and solitary or 

 panicled flowers of a white, red, or yellow colour. 

 They are found in hot climates in both hemispheres, 

 but chiefly within the tropics. They are most abun- 

 dant in India; a few exist in the northern parts of 

 Europe and America ; and some grow at the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



This order is one of the most useful in the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom, containing the various species of gourd, 

 cucumber, and melon, which are well known as arti- 

 cles of food ; and furnishing colocynth and elaterium, 

 which are valuable in a medical point of view. In 

 general the properties of the order may be said to be 

 bitter and laxative. These qualities pervade more 

 or less all the species of the order, and according to 

 the degree in which they are exhibited, the plants 

 become esculent or purgative. Some of the gourd 

 tribe contain a resinous principle in which the activity 

 of the plant resides, while in others its place is sup- 

 plied by milder ingredients, such as mucilage and 

 water. The seeds of cucurbitaceae are sweet and 

 oily, and are capable of forming an emulsion with 

 water. Their leaves and roots are frequently filled 

 with an acrid, bitter, and drastic juice. 



The order has been divided by Decandolle into 

 two sections, Nhandirobece and the true Cucurbitacea:. 

 The former includes the genera Feuillea or Nhandi- 

 roba and Zanoma, while the latter comprehends the 

 genera Cucurbita, Cucumis, Bryonia, Elaterium, Mo- 

 mordica, Joliffia, &c. 



We shall first notice the genus Cucumis, as furnish- 

 ing a good illustration of the properties of the order. 



Cucumis sativus is familiar to every one as yielding 



