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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Cucurbita Pepo. There are, in fact, some small kinds of wild 

 Melons to which it bears a striking resemblance. 



Egg Gourd. — A vigorous-growing plant, with stems often 13 ft. 

 long. Leaves large, of a rather dark green colour, entire, five- 

 angled, or divided into five faintly marked lobes. Fruit entirely 

 white, and of the shape and size of a hen's egg. 



Warty-skinned Fancy Gourd. — Stems rather thick, but not 

 very long, seldom exceeding about 6J ft. in length ; leaves of a clear 

 green colour, shining, slightly crimped, entire, rounded, or divided 

 into three lobes faintly toothed on the edges ; fruit usually 

 spherical, and having the skin entirely covered with numerous 

 round excrescences, of variable colour, sometimes green, but most 

 usually white or orange. The stems of this variety, instead of 



White-striped Flat Fancy Gourd (yV natural Warty Fancy Gourd (yV natural 

 size ; detached fruit, \ natural size). size). 



being slender and pliable like those of the other kinds of Fancy 

 Gourds, are stiff and stout, as if the plant had a tendency to grow 

 without any support. The plant does not branch much. 



BOTTLE GOURDS 



Lagenaria vulgaris^ Ser. ; Cucurbita Lagenaria^ L. Cucurbitacece. 



Courge bouteille. 



Native of South America. — Annual. — Like the Fancy Gourds, 

 or small varieties of Cucurbita Pepo, the different varieties of 

 Lagenaria vulgaris are much more grown for ornament than for 

 any use that is made of them. The Common Bottle Gourd, the 

 double swollen fruit of which is familiar to most people, is almost 

 the only kind that is turned to any account in the way of practical 

 utility, its dried fruit, when the flesh is removed, forming an excellent 

 substitute for bottles and other vessels. The very rapid growth of 

 this plant, the abundance and beauty of its large white flowers, and 



