328 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



green colour, with irregularly formed ribs, and the skin indented 

 and wrinkled, and like that of the Prescott Cantaloup Melon. It 



has been named C. meloni- 

 formis (Rev. hort. 1880) by 

 M. Carriere. 



Canada, or Winter Crook- 

 neck, Gourd. This pretty little 

 Gourd is closely allied to the 

 Early Neapolitan Squash, but 

 differs from it chiefly in having 

 the portion of the fruit which 

 is next the stalk completely 

 filled with flesh (as in the Naples 

 Carpet-bag Gourd), and usually 

 curved like the neck of a swan r 

 in which respect it resembles 

 the Siphon Gourd. It possesses 

 the good qualities of earliness 



Canada Crook-neck, or Winter, Gourd 

 ($ natural size). 



and excellent flavour, and also 

 keeps well. The plant is of 

 small size, the stems seldom 



exceeding 5 or 6 ft. in length. It is therefore well adapted for 



gardens of moderate extent. 



OTHER VARIETIES OF Cucurbita moschata 



There are also some forms of this species in which the fruit is 

 not elongated, but rounded or even flattened. Among the first 

 of these we may mention the Bordeaux Melon Squash a vigorous- 

 growing plant, bearing great numbers of fruit, which are nearly 

 cylindrical, flattened at both ends, something like a drum, as broad 

 as they are long, and with faintly defined ribs. It is a productive 

 variety, with fruit of excellent quality, but rather late in ripening. 

 The Courge a la Violette of the south of France and the Courge 

 Pascale are two varieties closely allied to the preceding one, and,, 

 like it, have almost spherical fruit. 



III. Cucurbita Pepo, L., and Varieties 



This species is the parent of a very great number of cultivated 

 varieties, all of which exhibit the following characteristics of the 

 type: Leaves with lobes always well defined, and often deeply 

 cut ; hairs becoming spiny here and there ; fruit-stalks pentangular 

 or five-ribbed, never swollen under the fruit, and becoming 

 exceedingly hard when the fruit ripens ; segments of the calyx 

 united for some part of their length, and often slightly contracted 



