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this species are almost endless. The most 
esteemed are, 1. 1 lie canleloupe, a small 
melon good for early culture. 2. The "Ro- 
man. 3. rhe galloway, or Portugal melon. 
The grand mistake in the culture Of melons 
is. planting them early ; for without son to 
ripen them well, melons are not worth the 
trouble of eating. 
Cucumbers in this country are raised at 
three different seasons of the year: 1. on hot- 
t)fcds, for early fruit ; Or. under bell or band 
glasses, for Ihe middle crop; 3. on the com- 
mon ground, w hich is for a late crop or to 
■pickle. The cucumbers which are ripe be- 
fore April are unwholesome, being raised 
wholly by tiie iieat of the dung without the 
assistance oi the sun. Those raised in April 
are good. 
Resides the above-mentioned species, which 
are proper for the table, this genus affords 
also two articles for the materia tnedica. 1. 
The elaterium of the shops, is the inspissated 
ferula of the juice of a kind of wild cucum- 
ber, called also (he elatinum or ass’s cucum- 
ber. It comes to this country from Spain 
and the southern parts of France, where the 
plant is very common. It is brought to us 
in small flat whitish lumps or cakes that are 
dry, and break easily between the fingers. It 
is of an acrid, bitter, and nauseous taste, and 
has a strong offensive smell when newly 
made: but these, as well as its other quali- 
ties, it loses after being kept some time. 
Elaterium is a violent purge and vomit, 
and is now very seldom used. Ihe plant is 
commonly called spirting cucumber, from 
its casting out its seeds with great violence, 
together with the viscid juice in which they 
are lodged, if touched when ripe : from this 
circumstance it has obtained the appellation 
of nod me tang ere, or touch-me-not. ' 2. Ihe 
colocynthis, colocynth, coloquintida, or bitter 
apple of the shops, is brought to us from 
Aleppo and the island of Crete. The leaves 
of the plant are large, placed alternate, al- 
most round, and stand upon footstalks four 
inches long. The (lowers are white ; and are 
succeeded by a fruit resembling the gourd, 
of the size of a large apple, and which is yel- 
low' when ripe. The shelly or husky outside 
incloses a bitter pulp interspersed with flat- 
tish seeds. If a hole is made in one of these 
ripe gourds, and a glass of rum poured in 
and suffered to remain 24 hours, it proves a ; 
powerful purgative. The pulp itself dried 
and powdered is commonly used as a purga- 
tive in this country, but is one of the most 
drastic, and if taken in a large dose, some- 
what hazardous. 
CUCURBIT, in chemistry, an earthen or 
glass vessel, so called from its resemblance 
•■to a gourd, arising gradually from a wide 
bottom, and terminating in a narrow neck. 
CUCURBIT A, the gourd and pompion, 
a genus of the syngenesia order, in the mo- 
Dcecia class of plants, and in the natural me- 
thod ranking under the 34th order, cucurbi- 
taceau The calyx of the male is quinque- 
dentated, the corolla quinquefid, the fila- 
ments three: the calyx of the female is quin- 
quedentated, the corolla quinquefid, the pis- 
til quinquefid, the seeds of the apple with a 
turn: 1 margin. 
'There are seven species, viz. 
1 . 'The lagenaria, or bottle-gourd, rises 
with thick trailing downy stalks, branching 
into many spreadingrunners. These extend 
along the ground sometimes 15 or 60 feet in 
length. 1 lie leaves are large ; the (lowers 
are large and white, succeeded by long in- 
curvated whitish yellow fruit, attaining from 
about two to five or six feet in length, and 
from about nine to twenty-four inches in cir- 
cumference, having a ligneous and durable 
shell. 
2. The pepo or pompion, commonly 
called pumpkin, has strong trailing rough 
stalks, branching into numerous runners. 
These are much larger than the former, ex- 
tending from ten to forty or fifty feet each 
way. 'They have yellow flowers. The 
flowers are succeeded by large, round, 
smooth fruit, of different forms and sizes ; 
some as large as a peck, others as big as half 
a bushel measure ; some considerably less, 
and others not exceeding the bulk of an 
orange, ripening to a yellow, and sometimes 
to a whitish, colour. 'This species is the 
most hardy of any, as well as the most ex- 
tensive in their growth. A single plant, if 
properly encouraged, w ill overspread 10 or 
15 roods of ground, and produce a great 
number of fruit, w hich, w hen young, are ge- 
nerally a mixture between a deep blue and 
pale white, but change as they increase in 
bulk. 
3. The verrucosa, or waited gourd, has 
trailing stalks very branchy, and running 
upon the ground 10 or 15 feet each way; 
large lobated leaves, and yellow flowers, suc- 
ceeded by roundish, knobby, wai ted, white 
fruit, of a moderate size. 
4. The meiopepo, erect gourd, or squash, 
rises with an erect strong stalk several feet 
high, rarely sending forth side-vuuhers, but 
becoming bushy upward. It is adorned with 
large lobated leaves; and the Ilowers are suc- 
ceeded by d- pressed knotty fruit, both white 
and yellow, commonly of a moderate size. 
5. The hispida. 
6. The ovifera. 
7. The cilrullus, or water-melon, the frith 
of which is often a foot or a foot and a half 
in diameter. It is much admired in hot cli- 
mates for its refreshing coolness ; but to an 
English palate it is always" insipid. 
Of all these species there are a great many 
varieties, and the fruit of every species is ob- 
served to be surprisingly apt to change its 
form . 
All the species of gourds and pompions, 
with their respective varieties, are raised from 
seed sown annually in April or the beginning 
of May, either with or without the help of 
artificial heat. But the plants forwarded in 
a hotbed till about a month old, produce 
fruit a mouth or six weeks earlier on that 
account, and ripen proportionably sooner. 
In this count: y these plants are cultivated 
chiefly for curiosity; though, mixed with 
apples, their pulp makes excellent tarts. In 
the places where they ate natives; they an- 
swer many important purposes. In both the 
Indies, bottle-gourds are very commonly cul- 
tivated and sold in the markets. They make 
the principal food of the common people, 
particularly in the warm months of June, 
July, arid August. The Arabians call this 
kind of gourd charrah. It grows commonly 
on the mountains in their deserts. The na- 
tives boil and season it with vinegar ; and 
sometimes, 'tilling the shell v ith rice and meat, 
make a kind of pudding of it. The hard 
shell is used for holding water, and some of 
them are capacious enough to contain 22 
gallons; these, however, are very uncom- 
mon. The fruit of the pompion constitutes 
a great part of the food of the common people 
during the hot months, in those places where 
it grows. If gathered when not much big- 
ger than a hen or goose egg, and properly 
seasoned with butter, vinegar, &c. it makes, 
a tolerable good sauce for butcher’s meat* 
and is also used in soups. In England it 
is seldom used till grown to maturity. The 
third species is also used in North America 
for culinary purposes. The fruit is gathered 
when about half-grown, boiled, and eaten as 
sauce to butcher’s meat. The squashes are 
also treated iu the same manner, and by some 
people esteemed delicate eating. 
CUDDY, in great ships, a place lying 
between the captain-lieutenant’s cabin and 
the quarter-deck, under the poop. It is di- 
vided into partitions for the master and other 
officers. 
CUI ante divortium, a writ that a woman 
divorced from her husband has to recover 
her lands and tenements, which, before her 
coverture, she held in fee simple, in tail, or 
for life, from a person to whom her husband 
had alienated them during the marriage, 
when it was not in her power to gainsay it. 
Cut in vita, a writ of entry which a widow 
may have against him to whom her husband 
in his life-time alienated her lands or tene- 
ments, without her consent first had, and 
her lawfully joining therein. 
CUI11 ASS, a piece of defensive armour, 
made of iron plate, well hammered, serving 
to cover the body from the neck to the gir- 
dle, both before and behind : whence, 
CUIRASSIERS, cavalry armed with cui- 
rasses, as most of the Germans formerly were. 
CULDEES, in church history, a sort of 
monkish priests, formerly inhabiting Scotland 
and Ireland. Being remarkable for the reli- 
gious exercises of preaching and praying, 
they were called, by way of eminence, cut- 
tores Dei ; whence is derived the word cul 
dees. They made choice of one of their 
own fraternity to be their spiritual head, who 
was afterwards called the Scots bishop. 
CULEUS, in Roman antiquity, the largest 
measure of capacity for things liquid, equal 
to 20 amphorae, or 40 urine. It contain- 
ed ]43 gallons three pints, English wine 
measure, or 11.095 solid inches. 
CULEX, the gnat, a genus of insects be- 
longing to the order of diptera. The mouth 
is formed by a flexible sheath, inclosing 
bristles pointed like stings. 'The antennae of 
tiie males are filiform ; those of the females 
feathered. There are seven species. These 
insects, too well known by the severe punc- 
tures they inflict, and the itchings thence 
arising, afford a most interesting history. 
Before they turn to flying insects, they have 
been in some measure fishes, under two dif- 
ferent forms. “ A 7 ou may observe in stag- 
nate waters,” says Barbut, “ from the begin- 
ning of May till winter, small griffs with 
their heads downwards, and their hinder parts 
on the surface of the water; from which part 
arises sideways a kind of vent-hole, or small 
hollow tube like a funnel ; and this is the organ 
of respiration. The head is armed with hooks 
that serve to seize on insects and bits of grass, 
on which it feeds. On the sides are placed 
lour small fins, by the help of which the rin- 
sed swims, about, and dives to thq bottom. 
