THE PUMPKIN AND GOURD. 



605 



off for use every day. The Harrison pumpkin is a new American variety of 

 the Mammoth, supposed to be tlie most productive known. 



The Squash-melon pumpkin., or bush gourd^ C. Melopepo, L. ; Courge 

 melonee, i^r. ; Melonen-kiirbis, Ger. Middle size; round; skin yellow 

 when ripe. Chiefly used in a green state when of the size of a hen's egg. 

 Much cultivated in America as food, for men, cattle, and swine. The early 

 orange squash is mentioned by Kenrick (^American Orchardist^ 1841. p. 870), 

 as a new summer variety ; very early, and of superior quality. The Canada 

 crook-neck, he says, is, without doubt, superior to any and all others for a 

 late or main crop : the fruit, in a dry and mild temperature, will keep till 

 the following summer. The seeds of these two varieties, we believe, may be 

 obtained of Mr. Charlwood. 



The Turlan pumpkin., or Turk's-cap, C. Pepo, var. clypeata, L. ; Gerau- 

 mon turban, or Patisson, Fr.; Pastenkiirbis, Ger.; and Zucca Gerusalemme, 

 Ital.; the warted gourd, C. verrucosa, L.; the orange gourd, C. aurantia, 

 L.; the bottle gourd, or false calabash, C. Lagenaria, Z., Lagenaria vul- 

 garis, var. turbinata, Ser.; and various other sorts to be found in nursery- 

 men's catalogues, — are cultivated chiefly as ornamental fruits. The fruit of 

 the orange gourd is bitter ; and that of the bottle gourd is said by Dr. Royle 

 {Botany of the Himalayas., &c., vol. i., p. 219) to be poisonous. The bottle 

 gourd is at first long and cylindrical, like a cucumber, but as it ripens, it 

 swells chiefly at the upper end, thus acquiring the form of a Venetian bottle. 

 After being gathered, the end of the neck where it was attached to the plant 

 is cut off\, the pulp and seeds carefully taken out, and the interior repeatedly 

 washed, so as to remove the bitter principle which constitutes the poison. 



1341. Culture. All the sorts are propagated exclusively b}^ seeds, which^ 

 being large, require to be covered with nearly an inch of soil. They may 

 be sown in April, in a hotbed, under glass, or in a stove, to raise plants for 

 transferring to the open garden, at the end of May, under a warm aspect ; or 

 for planting out in the middle of May, on a ridge of hot dung, under a 

 hand-glass or half-shelter : otherwise sow, at the beginning of May, under a 

 hand-glass, without bottom heat, for transplanting into a favourable situa- 

 tion ; or sow three weeks later (after the 20th) at once in the open garden, 

 under a south wall, for the plants to remain. The smaller-fruited kinds do 

 best trained to an upright pole or trellis. From time to time earth up the 

 stems of the plants. As the runners extend five feet or more, peg down at 

 a joint, and they will take root. Water copiously whenever warm weather 

 without showers makes the ground arid; and thin out the shoots where they 

 are crowded. With those kinds the fruit of which is gathered green, by no 

 means allow any to ripen, because that would stop the production of young 

 fruit ; and where the fruit is to be used ripe, or where it is allowed to ripeu 

 for the production of seed, do not allow more than one, if the kind is large, 

 or two or three, if it is middle-sized or small, to ripen on a plant. Where 

 the walks of a garden are covered with wire trellis- work, of the kind indi- 

 cated in figs. 124 and 125 in. p. 186, they may be covered with the smaller- 

 fruited species, and even with cucumbers and water-melons during summer 

 when shade is desirable for the walk ; while, in winter, the treUis will be 

 left naked to admit the sun and air to dry the gravel or flag-stone. Nine 

 different modes of dressing the tops and fruit of gourds are given by an 

 eminent French cook in G. M. vol. viii. p. 184. 



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