306 
TIIE VEGETABLE MARROW. 
most commonly grown in Turkey, the markets 
of Constantinople being supplied with them 
for fully six months in the year. There are 
several varieties grown, and they are univer- 
sally used in soups. 
The Pumpkin is the Cucurbita Pepo, a 
native of the Levant, and introduced to this 
country about 1570. It is hardly so much 
grown now as formerly, although Pumpkin- 
pie may still be occasionally met with. On 
the Continent it is used in soups, and also 
boiled and fried. Being much coarser than 
the Vegetable Marrow, it is not likely to be 
much grown. 
The Warted Gourd, or Squash (Cucurbita 
verrucosa), is a native of the East, and appears 
to have been in cultivation since 1658. It is 
grown in North America, with those before 
mentioned, under the common name of squash, 
and perhaps some of the bush varieties belong 
to this species. 
The Orange Gourd (Cucurbita aurantla), 
and the Pear-shaped Gourd (C. pyriformis), 
are grown and used like the others in Turkey, 
although here chiefly used for decorative pur- 
poses. Their trivial names well express the 
shape and appearance of their fruit. 
The Turk's Turban Gourd (Cucurbita 
cidoniformis) takes its name from the curious 
shape, and varied colours of its fruit. The 
old story of its form resulting from planting 
a Gourd near a Quince tree, when the former 
immediately assumed the shape of the latter 
fruit in addition to its own, is a very fanciful 
origin for it, to say no more. In Turkey it is 
used in soups liked the others. 
The Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) is 
a native of the East Indies, and appears to have 
been introduced as early as 1597. This is 
by some thought to be the Gourd of Jonas, 
from the rapidity of its growth when well 
supplied with moisture. There are several 
varieties, including the Club Gourd, the 
fruit of which sometimes attains a length 
of six or seven feet, in the East. The Bottle 
Gourd is one of the most extensively culti- 
vated in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, 
the young fruit being cut when about the size 
of useable cucumbers, the inside scooped out, 
filled up with rice and forced meat, and 
boiled. Cooked thus it is in great repute 
with the Turks. The plants are trained so 
as to form cool arbours, so grateful in a hot 
climate. 
Many other sorts of Gourds, and allied 
plants, are cultivated in various warm climates; 
the above are given here because they will all 
succeed during our summers, treated as tender 
annuals. 
As the cultivation of one species is appli- 
cable to all, the following directions are applied 
generally. As the weather is not usually 
warm enough for these plants out of doors 
until the middle or latter end of May, the seed 
need not be sown until the first or second 
week in April. It should be sown in pots 
filled with light rich soil, and placed in a 
cucumber frame. The plants should be care- 
fully potted off as soon as the seed leaves 
expand, singly in small pots, and replaced in 
a close heat until they begin to grow freely, 
when they should be topped and gradually 
hardened off. About the last week in May, 
plant them out singly, where they are to 
remain, placing a hand-glass over each, until 
they are well established, when the glass 
should be raised on bricks, and the shoots 
trained regularly out. They are generally 
allowed to grow as they like, into a confused 
mass, of plenty of leaves, but few fruit. They 
are all the better for some thinning and regu- 
lating, — thougli little time can generally be 
spared for so necessary an operation. At any 
rate, once well established, they flourish until 
the frost kills them, or until they are exhausted 
by bearing. The places generally selected 
to turn these plants out, is most frequently the 
top of compost and rotten dung heaps, or old 
spent hot-beds. The trenches between the 
asparagus beds are also good situations for some 
of them. But it is questionable whether the 
selection of a much poorer soil would not be 
more productive of profitable results than the 
above way. If a barren piece of land were 
chosen, the plants would be much more 
manageable ; and by a judicious application of 
water, either pure, or with manure in solution, 
their luxuriance of growth could be checked, 
and the production of fruit would doubtless be 
much greater than under the old system. 
If the first supply was insufficient, or not 
likely to last through the season, a sowing 
out of doors may be made in July, especially 
of the squashes. Even sown as late as August, 
these latter will come into bearing, and keep 
on the supply until all are killed by frost. In 
America they are eaten as turnips, and are by 
many preferred to that root. If any of these 
plants are put out in the open quarters, they 
should have the same summer treatment as 
other crops, being kept free from weeds, the 
ground stirred, and they should be well watered 
in dry weather. These plants are excellent 
for covering unsightly objects, — as palings, 
walls, or any odd corner, being easily trained, 
— especially the smaller fruited sorts, — in any 
required direction, and in the autumn their 
fruits make a good display. 
Besides the various uses already noticed, 
and many more which it would be tedious to 
mention, various kinds afford a valuable addi- 
tion to sea stores, lasting long after all ordinary 
vegetables are used up, and forming a grateful 
addition to the scanty fare of a long voyage. 
