THE CUCUMBER. 287 



require a great deal of care. In the warm climate of 

 Persia, the only attention which they ask from the 

 cultivator, is to be regularly watered 5 and though 

 the melons may be supplied with water artificially, 

 the air, in their native country, is still very dry: this 

 humid soil and dry atmosphere are, as Mr. Lindley 

 remarks, very difficult to be obtained in this country. 

 The covering which is requisite for confining the 

 heat confines also the moisture raised by evaporation. 

 It is further judiciously observed in this paper, that 

 the supply of water should be at the roots, and not 

 over the plant; and that the air should be kept warm 

 by repeated changes of soil on the surface, and dry 

 by abundant ventilation. Some of the melons, of 

 which Mr. Willock furnished the seed, are ready for 

 the table as soon as cut ; and some are winter melons, 

 which must be kept for some months before they are 

 eaten. 



THE CUCUMBER Cucumis saliva. 



The cucumber, like the melon, is an annual, and, 

 being a native of warmer climates, it does not ripen 

 in Britain, except in very favourable situations, 

 without the protection either of a frame or a hand- 

 glass. 



In the East the cucumber has been very extensively 

 cultivated from the earliest periods, as well as most 

 of the other species of gourd. When the Israelites 

 complained to Moses in the wilderness, comparing 

 their old Egyptian luxuries with the manna upon 

 which they were fed, they exclaimed, " We remember 

 the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the 

 cucumbers and the melons." Hasselquist, in his 

 Travels, states that these cooling fruits still form a 

 great part of the food of the lower class of the 

 people in Egypt, especially during the summer 

 months; and that the water-melon in particular, 



