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THE CUCUMBER. 



The cucumber (Cucumis sativa) is said by some horti- 

 cultural writers to be a native of the East Indies. It 

 has, however, been cultivated and esteemed in Africa 

 from a very early period ; and in the complaint of the 

 Israelites to Moses in the wilderness, they singularly 

 enough associated their appreciation of the cucumber 

 with the fish, which they "freely " ate in Egypt. Fish 

 and cucumbers are now much appreciated together. 

 The very earliest records of English horticulture em- 

 brace the cucumber, and in Edward III.'s time it was 

 common, but was afterwards comparatively neglected 

 till the time of Henry VIII. ; and it was the middle of 

 the seventeenth century before its cultivation became 

 general. In England it is very much more esteemed 

 by the mass of the population than in Scotland. In 

 some parts of Bedfordshire — Sandy, for instance — it 

 is cultivated in the open air by thousand of bushels, 

 and supplied to pickle-manufacturers for pickling. 



At certain seasons of the year the cucumber is of 

 the easiest possible cultivation, requiring next to no 

 attention or skill. This applies to the summer months. 

 But to supply cucumbers every day from November 



