CHAPTER XVI II. 
THE CUCUMBER. 
“ Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, 
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched ; 
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.” 
Pericles , 1 . 
< t>-j 
;TPT is no part of our duty to make an apology for the 
W cucumber. The human race might perhaps be divided 
^ into those who believe in it, and those who do not; and 
to reconcile the two great factions would be a triumph for 
the hypothetical peacemaker who, with the coolness of the 
cucumber, could set about the task, and accomplish it so 
completely that for ever after the world should be of one 
mind on the subject, the cucumber thenceforth becoming the 
favourite of all men. Asa “ golden fruit” it is in all pro- 
bability poisonous, but that is of no consequence, for when 
ripe it is so bitter that no one can eat it. But between the 
tender sweetness and refreshing coolness of a quite young 
fruit in a perfectly fresh state, and the ill-looking yellow 
fruit full of ripening seeds, there are many intermediate 
stages, and all are more or less representative of danger, for 
the tender fruit becomes tough before . it shows signs of 
ripening, and instantly on this stage being entered on, the 
poisonous bitter principle is developed and the “ death-like 
dragons” dwell therein. Well-grown cucumbers cut at a 
proper age, and eaten fresh, are in all probability as whole- 
some as anything the garden produces, and beyond question 
those who have the courage to eat them would consider the 
deprivation grievous were the cucumber to be authoritatively 
proscribed. For the present they are free. 
The Cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) represents an important 
group of plants characterized by rapid growth, love of warmth 
and moisture, unisexual flowers, and large fleshy fruits that 
usually attain to perfection in a space of time which is very 
small as compared with their weight. In common with other 
