BOOK XIX. XXIV. 69-71 



manure. Both gourds and cucumbers are grown from 

 seed sown in a hole dug in the ground eighteen inches 

 deep, between the spring equinox and midsumiuer, 

 but most suitably on the day of the Parilia." 

 Some people however prefer to start sowing gourds 

 on March 1 and cucumbers on March 7, and to go c)n 

 through the Feast of Minerva.'' These two plants 

 both climb upward with shoots creeping over the 

 rough surface of walls right up to the roof, as their 

 nature is very fond of height. Thev have not the 

 strength to stand without supports, but they shoot 

 up at a rapid pace,covering vaulted roofs nnd treUises 

 with a Ught shade. Owing to this they faU into these 

 two primary classes, the roof-gourd and the common 

 gourd which grows on the ground ; in the former 

 class a remarkablv thin stalk has hanging from it a 

 heavy fruit which a breeze cannot move. The gourd 

 as weU as the cucumber is made to grow in aU sorts of 

 long shapes, mostly by means of sheathes of plaited 

 wicker, in which it is enclosed after it has shcd its 

 blossom, and it grows in any shape it is compeUed to 

 take, usuaUy in the form of a coiled serpent. But if 

 aUowed to hang free it has before now been seen 

 three yards long. The cucumber makes bk>ssoms one 

 by one, one flowering on the top of the othcr, and 

 it can do with rather dry situations ; it is covered with 

 white down, especiaUy when it is growing. 



There are a larffcr number of wavs of using gourds. Varimi twf* 

 10 begin with, the stalk is an article of food. 1 lie 

 part after the stalk is of an entirely difFerent nature ; 

 gourds have recently come to be used instead of jugs 

 in bath-rooms, and they have long been actuaUy 

 employed as jars for storing wine. The rind of 

 gourd while it is green is thin. but aU the same it i3 



467 



of gnurds. 



