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made to fruit well, possess comparatively little flavour, and they 
are much more satisfactory when grown on the hills. ’ y 
Gourds. 
The Wax Gourd ( Benincasa cerifera ) Kundur. There are 
two commonly cultivated varieties of this plant here, known as 
Kundur Java, and Ivundui China. In the former, the fruit when 
ripe is hairy, in the latter it is smooth. 
I he Wax Gourd is a large climber with yellow flowers, as large 
as those of the vegetable marrow, and fruit which, though always 
hairy when young, becomes in the commoner form "(Kundur 
China) quite smooth, greyish green and covered with a waxy 
bloom, whence the name Wax Gourd. The iruit is oblong and 
very large, about a foot and a-half long. It is grown from seed 
and allowed to creep prostrate on the ground, or better still grown 
over a trellis. It is eaten boiled like other gourds, and the Chi- 
nes ^ make a sweetmeat by boiling slices in sugar and crystaliz- 
ing them. 
The Vegetable Marrow ( Cucurbita pepo).— Has, I believe, never 
been successfully grown here, but the pumpkin grows fairly well 
although it is apt to fall before fully ripe in heavy rain. We 
have been most successful with Italian varieties. 
The large gourd ( Cucurbita maxima). — “Labu Merah’’ and 
the Labu Manis a variety of C. pepo are also cultivated to a 
certain extent, but many of the larger gourds are also imported 
from India, and they form an important article of food among 
the natives. They are used by Europeans in curries, or in soups 
or plain boiled, being cut up into small pieces. 
The worst enemies of the pumpkins and gourds are the crick- 
ets, which attack seedlings at night and devour them. I have 
seen a whole bed of seedlings mown down in one or two nights by 
a large brown cricket with light blue wings. Where these ani 
mals are numerous, it is advisable to protect the young plants 
with mosquito netting till they are big enough to climb, when 
the crickets do but little harm. A small beetle with a red head 
and thorax and blue elytra also attacks many of this group of 
plants, perforating the leaves with small round holes, but it does 
not appear to do much real harm. 
Serpent Gourd ( Trichosanthes anguina) Petola or Ketola Ular 
—A climbing plant with rather small white flowers, with fim- 
briate edges and long cylindrical fruit, two feet or more in length 
and about two inches through, usually green marbled w th white. 
It is iaised fiom seed like other gourds, and grown on a trellis 
and takes about two months to bear fruit. As the fruit ripen=’ 
it is usual to tie a small stone or other weight to it to keep it 
straight. ' ^ 
The serpent gourd makes an excellent vegetable boiled in milk 
Tt is softer and of a better flavour than an ordinary pumpkin, 
and resembles rather a vegetable marrow. It should be taken 
young, for if allowed to get ripe it is bitter. 
