THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



133 



wwrnM 



The Dishrag Gourd or Vegetable 

 Sponge 



THE vegetable sponges that are com- 

 monly sold in drug stores and used in 

 the bathroom are produced by a vine like a 

 cucumber which anyone may grow in his gar- 

 den. In tropical countries these vegetable 

 sponges are often used for dishrags (being 

 particularly useful for scouring pans and 

 kettles), and it has been suggested that 

 housewives in the North should "grow their 

 own dishrags," since a clean sponge could 

 be used for each dish-washing performance 

 and then thrown away, thus relegating to 

 history the rubbing out of greasy cloths. 



190. The dish-rag gourd, with husk partly removed 

 to show the fibre 



191. The cucumber-liKe vine which produces the 

 vegetable sponges. TaKen at the edible stage, when 

 ihe young fruits may be sliced and eaten liKe cucum- 

 bers or cooked liKe squash. Probably Luffa Aegyptiaca 



We doubt if the effort would prove 

 economical, but it would certainly be en- 

 tertaining. 



This singular plant is grown for four dis- 

 tinct purposes — for ornament, curiosity, 

 sponges, and food. The fruit is said to attain 

 an extreme length of nine feet in the tropics, 

 but in northern gardens it is usually one or 

 two feet long. Fig. 190 shows it in the 

 vegetable stage and Fig. 192 in the sponge 

 stage, before the husk is removed. It prob- 

 ably has no value as a vegetable for this 

 country, but in the tropics and in China and 

 Japan the young fruits are eaten in three 

 different ways: sliced, like cucumbers, or in 

 soups, or cooked like squash. 



The cultivation of the dishcloth gourd is 

 like that of the cucumber. It cannot stand 

 a frost and therefore the seeds should be 

 sown outdoors about May 10th in the latitude 

 of New York, or started indoors in March 

 if one wants a bigger crop. The vines ordi- 

 narily run ten or fifteen feet, and if one can- 

 not afford ten square feet of ground space, 

 it would be better to give the vine some sup- 

 port, such as that of a tree. 



The accompanying pictures were taken 

 in the garden of Mr. Charles Richardson, of 

 Pasadena, Cal., by Mrs. Helen Lukens Jones, 

 who sends the following notes: "The seeds 

 of these remarkable plants were gathered in 

 South African jungles by Mr. Walter Richard- 

 son during one of his hunting and exploring 

 expeditions. [They might have been gotten 

 for five cents from American seedsmen.] 

 In California the fruits average ten inches 

 in length and three in diameter. In the late 

 fall the leaves drop from the vines, and as 

 they hang on the naked vines exposed to sun 

 and wind the sponges become dry and ready 

 for harvesting. At this stage the outer coat- 

 ing is brown and hard as a walnut shuck. 

 When this shuck is removed, a fibrous, 

 cream-colored sponge is revealed. Through 

 the centre of this sponge are three lengthwise 

 compartments in which are black seeds 

 about the size of an ordinary bean. These 

 sponges are immensely strong and durable, 

 for the fibres are so closely intertwined they 

 form an elastic network that is almost solid. 

 When put in water, the fibres expand and 

 become soft after the fashion of an ocean 

 sponge." Sponges for the trade are cured 

 and blanched. A good sponge costs twenty 

 to forty cents at a drug store. 



There are two different species of dishrag 

 gourd in cultivation, Luffa JEgyptiaca (com- 

 monly sold by seedsman as Luffa cylindrica), 

 and Luffa acutangula, which is cultivated by 

 Chinamen on Long Island for their country- 

 men in New York City, the former being 

 known as Sua-kwa or "water squash"; the 

 latter as Sing-kwa, or "hairy squash," 

 although it is not particularly hairy. The 

 first or common species, which is here illus- 

 trated, has five-pointed leaves and the fruit 

 is not ridged, while the second species has 

 leaves which are only slightly lobed and the 

 fruit has ten distinct ridges running its full 

 length. Both are members of the cucum- 

 ber family (Cucurbitaceas), and are prob- 

 ably native to Asia, though they are cul- 

 tivated everywhere in the tropics. 



Vines for the Cellar Window 



HOW TO MAKE THE CELLAR COOL AND DARK 

 LN SUMMER AND LIGHT IN WINTER 



'"THE builder of our house gave us a win- 

 -*- dow where we did not want one. A 

 cellar which we wished to have cool and 

 dark was made both warm and light by a 

 large window on the sunny side of the house. 

 The problem was, how to shade the window 

 and yet not cut off all the light, at the same 

 time making it look as attractive as possible 

 — both inside and out. This is how we solved 

 it: We bought some strong wire netting and 

 tacked it across the windows, then we planted 

 Boston ivy against the foundation ; the result 

 is that in the summer we have a cool green 

 shade from the vines which reach across. As 

 for the winter, it makes no difference about 

 the light, so we have gained our object; our 

 screen appears and disappears just when it is 

 desirable, with no work on our part. It 

 serves another purpose, also. Our place 

 stands alone on a hillside, and we imagine 

 a burglar would be less likely to work his 

 way through the thick vine and the wire 

 than he would be to attempt an entrance 

 through the conspicuously unprotected 

 window of former days. 



Ida M. Angell. 

 New York. 



192. The vegetable sponge of the drug stores, which 

 can be grown in any garden 



193. Harvesting sponges from the vine, which 

 has been allowed to climb a tree. The leaves of the 

 vine drop off in autumn. The gourds are about ten 

 inches long. These pictures from a California garden 



