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Momordica charantia — Peria.— A climber with yellow flowers, 
and warted orange coloured fruit, very variable in size, the seeds 
covered with a sweet red pulp. Often cultivated by the Chinese 
who generaliv grow it upon sticks. The fruit varies from a few 
inches to about a foot in length. 
It is eaten young, before it becomes red. The flavour is 
rather bitter, and it is not usually liked by Europeans, though 
very popular with natives. 
Cucumbers. 
The Chinese are very successful cucumber growers, and the 
market is generally well supplied They grow them on sticks in 
much the same maimer as scarlet runner beans are grown in Eng- 
land. Plenty of manure applied to the soil before planting, and 
liquid manure twice a week, are necessary, and the crop should 
be ready for use in nine or ten weeks. We have tried several 
kinds of high class cucumbers from England with only moderate 
success. Indian saved seeds give a much better result, as do 
several of the Italian strains. 
Chocho. 
Chocho ( Sechium edule) is a climbing perennial plant of the 
cucumber family, one of the most productive as well as whole- 
some of vegetables. This has been in cultivation on Penang Hill 
many years, and is said to have been introduced by a Mr. Bain. 
It is best grown on a horizontal trellis, five or six feet from the 
ground, so that a person can get underneath to collect the fruit. 
The fruits are pear shaped, and should be gathered before they 
get too old. The root is said to be edible, but t never heard of 
its being used here. 
Propagation is attained by leaving some fruits to ripen ana 
then planting them whole, the pointed or stem end being insert- 
ed in the soil to about two-thirds of their depth. After they 
have sprouted a few inches, more soil must be placed around them 
or they may be transplanted to a greater depth in deep rich soil. 
The fruit is eaten boiled and much resembles the vegetable mar- 
row m flavour. If is liable to the attacks of a small fly which 
dest r ovs the fruit. 
J 
Bottle Gourd, Lagenana vulgaris, “Tabu Jantong,” “Labu 
Ayer”. — Is often cultivated and some varieties are used for food, 
especially a rather long pear shaped kind. It grows rapidly on 
trellises, and the young fruit is considered good in curries, or 
plain boiled. > 
The bottle shaped variety * ‘Labu Kendi’ ’ which is cleaned out 
when ripe and used as a flask is not at least generally eaten, being 
grown for use as a bottle. 
The Loophar, Luff a cegyfthaca, Petola Manis or Ketola Manis. 
— A climbing gourd with yellow flowers cultivated on sticks or 
trellis. The unripe fruit is eaten like other small gourds. The 
ripe fruit, cleaned of its pulp and split, is used for a bathing sponge 
in Europe. 
