906 History of Garden Vegetables. 
vegetable-garden in France by Noisette" in 1829, and by Vik 
morin?’ in 1883, yet, as Decaisne and Naudin? remark, but rarely, a 
find no record of its cultivation in England, but in America it 
is described by Burr‘ in four varieties, differing in the flowers, — 
and as having become naturalized to a limited extent,—a fact i 
which implies a certain cultivation. Its seed does not appear in — 
our seed-catalogues. d 
The Cuckoo-Flower, or Lady’s Smock, is called, in je. 
Cresson des pres, cresson elegant, cressonnette, passerage sauvage; 
in Germany, wiesen kresse ; in Spain, berros de prado? 
CUCUMBER. Cucumis sativus L. : 
The cucumber, under the form Cucumis hardwickii Royle, — 
found growing wild in the Himalaya region, and a variety (si 
kimensis Hook) is cultivated in Nepal and Sikkim. Its origia 
-is therefore ascribed to the East Indies. It has been a plant of ‘ 
cultivation from the most remote times, but De Candolle‘ finds 
no support for the common belief of its presence in ancient 
Egypt at the time of the Israelite migration into the wilderness — 
although its culture in Western Asia is indicated from philo- : 
agriculture of the fifth century, and is described by Chae : 
authors of 1590 and 1640.2 Cucumbers were kno a 
ancient Greeks? and to the Romans, and Pliny* even mam 
their forced culture. They find mention in the middle ages, and 
in the botanies from Ruellius (1536) onward. In Anema g 
are almost coeval with the discovery, as the companions a 
Columbus were growing them in their gardens at Hayti ] 
1494." Their distribution was rapid. Cartier” found “Ve 
great cucumbers” in cultivation by the Indians near the pres 
Montreal in 1535, and De Soto” found, in Florida, “ cucumbee 
- * Noisette, Man., 1829, 356. 2 Vilmorin, Les Pl. Pot., 1883, 19° 
à Peca & Naudin, Man., iv., 228. 4 Burr, Field and Gard. Veg.» 
` TR Cucurbitaceæ in De C. Monog., iii. 498. 
e Candolle, Orig. Des Pl. Cult., 212; Eng. trans., 266.9 83. 
7 Bretschneider, On the Study, etc., 15. ® Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., 18 Se 
° Theophrastus, Bodzus a Stapel ed., 1644. , 
o * Pliny, lib. xix, c. 23. 11 Trying, Columbus, 1859 * 380. 
E 7 Cartier, Pink. Voy., xii. 652. 12 De Soto, Florida, 44- l 
