CUCUMBE R.-CUCUM IS. 



In Hot any i a Genus of the Moncecia Synge- 

 nesia Class. 



THE cucumber, which is one of the coldest 

 fruits, is evidently a native of a warm cli- 

 mate ; and by all the researches I have been 

 able to make, I conclude it belongs to the 

 soil of some parts of Asia and Africa. It 

 was known to the Grecians, as their earliest 

 writers on natural history have mentioned 

 it, and in particular recommend that the 

 seeds should be steeped for two days in milk 

 and honey before they are set, to make the 

 fruit sweeter and pleasanter. Pliny men- 

 tions the great quantities that grew in some 

 parts of Africa, and particularly in Barbary. 

 All vegetables are so formed as to per- 

 petuate themselves by seed in the climate 

 where they originate; for if this was not 

 the case, every species of plant that is not 



