THE HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATED CUCURBITS 



developed in that country.''' It seems very doubtful that 

 the Egyptians, the Greeks, or the Romans knew the 

 melon. Certainly no very tasty forms were known to 

 them and it is not until after the Middle Ages that 

 improved forms became sufficiently widespread to merit 

 comment in the writings of the day, though Sturtevant 

 cites Palladius in the early part of the 3rd century as not- 

 ing the fruits as " sweet and odorus." He also states that 

 in 1554, Amatus Lusitanus mentioned " thin skinned, 

 thick skinned, red-fleshed and white-fleshed " forms, 

 as well as early, late and winter melons. Yellow- 

 fleshed sorts were noted by Dodonaeus in 1616 and green- 

 fleshed by Marcgravius in 1648. Warted types were 

 seen by Lobelius before 1570 and netted and ribbed sorts 

 were named by Camerarius in 1586. Round, long, oval, 

 and pear shaped melons were mentioned by Gerard (1597) 

 and other types appeared frequently in literature during 

 the next quarter century. There is little evidence of the 

 popularity of melons before this time, the middle and 

 close of the 16th century, and one may well believe that 

 they were one of the plants most highly developed in 

 this period of great garden interest. Don says that the 

 melon has been cultivated in England since 1570. In 

 the 17th century, frequent mention of melons is to be 

 found in American literature and it would seem that 

 the early introductions of the species by Europeans had 

 been very popular with the Indians among whom melon 

 culture spread rapidly at least along the seaboard. 



The watermelon ( Citrullus vulgaris) and the white- 

 flowered gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) are cultivated 



to but a slight extent in New York State. Both are 

 of African origin though the gourd must have spread 

 to Asia in very early times, and both have a long history 

 of culture. The watermelon was cultivated in ancient 

 Egypt and has for ages been a favorite fruit of the 

 African negroes. It seems to have been introduced 

 into Europe at about the beginning of the Christian 

 era and by the 16th century was cultivated wherever it 

 could be grown satisfactorily. Sturtevant thought that 

 the watermelon had nearly reached the height of its 

 development by that time and that very little had been 

 done in the way of improvement of varieties since. Its 

 culture has spread widely in warmer and warm temperate 

 parts of America where climatic and soil conditions seem 

 to have been especially favorable. In this State it is 

 grown largely for home use or for the local market. 



The gourd is grown in New York for some of the 

 larger city markets and occasionally in the home garden. 

 It became known to the Romans about the beginning of 

 the Empire and was probably not known to the ancient 

 Greeks. DeCandolle remarks that it was much more 

 widely grown in Europe in the 16th century than at 

 present. As a food plant the vegetable marrows, though 

 no easier of culture and less prolific, have largely taken 

 its place because of their superior quality. 



Further notes on the horticultural history of the 

 various groups of cucurbits treated in this volume will 

 be found associated with the discussion of varieties, 

 where they may more properly be associated with the 

 types now cultivated. 



B The origin of the whole family of Cucurbitaceae presents an interesting study as approximately 2 5 of the genera known are from 

 Africa, 2 5 from America and the other 1/5 largely from tropical Asia. This distribution lends color to the suggestion that Africa and 

 South America were once united and to the idea that the Cucurbitaceae arose in this united plant province and spread later to Asia with 

 a few genera still later differentiating north and south of the original habitat. 



