GOURDS AND CUCURBITS 



451 



In form and size there is every possible modification, from the tiny 

 succulent red fruits of the Bryonopsis to the huge mottled club-like 

 Gourds of the Lagenaria of five and six feet in length, from the Goose- 

 berry Gourd to the huge Pumpkin, weighing nearly a hundredweight. 



Again, the colours are most attractive, and in some species even 

 brilliant, every conceivable tint of yellow, whilst the most vivid scarlet and 

 orange tints of Coccinia, Momordica, and Trichosanthcs can be contrasted 

 with the pale ivory and green of the Malabar Gourd. 



Nor does the attraction stop at colour and contour. There is hardly a 

 fruit in cultivation which has not its counterpart in some Gourd ; thus 

 we have Apple, Orange, Pear, Gooseberry, Grape, and other Gourds, all 

 wonderful instances of superficial resemblance. This trait is not confined 

 to a mimicry of fruits, for Gourds may be seen in the form of many 

 articles of useful and domestic character, this is more especially the case 

 with those grown in the United States of America, and may to some 

 extent account for the enthusiasm Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses for 

 Gourds in "Mosses from an old Manse," in which he says : " A hundred 

 Gourds in my garden were worthy, in my eyes at least, of being rendered 

 indestructible in marble. If ever Providence (but I know it never will) 

 should assign me a superfluity of gold, part of it should be expended for a 

 service of plate, or most delicate porcelain } to be wrought into the shape of 

 Gourds, gathered from vines which I will plant with my own hands. As 

 dishes for containing vegetables they would be peculiarly appropriate. 

 Gazing at them, I feel that by my agency something worth living for 

 had been done. A new substance was born into the world. They were 

 real and tangible existences which the mind could seize hold of and 

 rejoice in." 



One naturally asks the question, Why this variety ? Why these 

 quaint and fantastic forms ? And the reason, I think, is not very obscure. 



In the first place there is the undoubted fact that for ages these fruits 

 have been cultivated both for their use and beauty, and it is only natural 

 to suppose that those ideals have been valued by the ancient cultivators, 

 as well as by the more modern gardeners of later years. 



Then, again, we must remember the ease with which the sorts cross 

 and recross. This is particularly so in the genus Cucurbita, the species 

 of which, as well as varieties of individual species, easily cross. I am 

 unable to say to what extent, if any, genera cross ; so far I have not 

 succeeded in raising a true bigeneric hybrid, although I have induced fruits 

 of Momordica to form, by using the pollen of Trichosanthcs ; but the seed 

 was not fertile and would not germinate. Curiously enough, there is no 

 mention of Cucurbitaceous hybrids in the Conference Report of 1900. 



The home par excellence of the Gourd and Cucurbit family is the 

 Riviera, where the climate is exactly favourable to their rapid growth, 

 coloration, and hardening of the rind, so essential in the Gourds grown 

 for bottles &c. The variety grown there is enormous, and comprises 

 hundreds of different sorts varying in size and colour. 



The main groups are those known as Cucurbita Pepo, with the varieties 

 C. P. aurantia, C. P. mitriformis, yellow and green forms, C. P. ovi- 

 formis, C. P.pyriformis, C. P. turbaniformis, C. P.radiata, C. P. rotunda 

 alba, and dozens of other varieties of C. P. verrucosa, the warted Gourds. 



