253 
TIIE COTTAGE GAUDENEK AND COUNTRY 
GOURDS AND CUCUMBERS FOR ORNAMENT 
AND USE. 
“ I have no glass, but a nice little greenhouse and a plant- 
stove at a little distance from each other. The space between 
is backed by a rough wooden fence, and also a space at each end. 
By means of additional poles placed in a four or five-feet border 
I wish these spaces next August and September to present a wild 
tropical appearance. Could I employ Cucumbers, Snake Gourds, 
Club Gourds, Warted Gourds, and Monster Gourds to effect 
this object, and how ? And should I be able to turn them to 
any use or profit afterwards ? ” —Quid. 
The idea is a good one if not too generally adopted. For a 
season now and then a very striking effect will be produced. 
Scrambling over a fence, and hanging in festoons from rough 
stakes and arches, the plants will appear much more elegant than 
when crawling on the grouucl in the usual -way. Even the com¬ 
mon garden Cucumber would be much more at home against 1 
such a fence or up a pole in the summer months than growing 
on the ground in ridges. 
Perhaps the two most singular of this tribe are the Squirting 
Cucumber ( JKomordica elaterium ), which throws out its pulp 
with considerable force when the fruit is ripe and the stalk is in- j 
terfered with, but which is of a poisonous character, and not safe 
to be used at all, either when green or ripe; and the Snake 
Cucumber (Cucumis anguineus, or Tricosanthes anguina), which, 
from its great length and snake-like appearance, is very interest¬ 
ing to look at, but which it would hardly be safe to use in any [ 
way, though it is said the natives of India frequently eat it. 
Neither of these would answer quite satisfactorily, unless near 
the end of the respective houses, and in a fine season ; but two 
or throe plants of each could be grown so as to try them on the 
fence, or the end of the house, and four plants of the Suake 
Cucumber at least, and one or two of Tricosanthes colubrina , if 
deemed desirable, might be grown so as to have one at the end 
of each house inside, and thus form a connection between the 
internal and external scenery. One thing we must not omit to 
mention, and that is, that we have seen ladies much shocked 
at the first sight of these huge serpents when unexpectedly seen 
on entering a house ; and people who have a taste for the curious 
should endeavour to enjoy it, if possible, without shocking the 
nerves of those not so strong as themselves. These should be 
sown in the plant-stove about the beginning of March ; be potted 
off separately in four-inch pots in peat and loam ; shifted again 
into loam and rotten dung as soon as they need it, and the shifting 
continued until you get each plant into a 16-incli pot, and use 
good loam with some good rotten, well-aired cow or other dung 
to enrich it. Drainage must be well attended to, and pieces 
of charcoal in the compost to keep it open will be an advantage. 
If the dung has not been well aired and dried before using, do 
not put it in the soil at all, but place a little on the surface, and 
use rich, clear manure waterings. The finest specimens will be 
produced at the two inside ends of the stove-house. 
Were it not for the conveniences and the desire to have ripe 
fruit early, the seeds of all the others might be placed in the 
ground at once towards the end of May, the ground previously 
being frequently turned over after each sunny day, so as to dig 
in heat and sunbeams; and the surface left rough at night, to 
prevent the radiation of the accumulated heat. In fine sunny 
seasons the ground may thus be like a hotbed by the beginning 
of June. Under the circumstances referred to we would sow all 
the others in the stove-liouse in the last week of April; pot 
them off, when fairly up, separately into four or five-inch pots, 
using sandy loam and leaf mould. As the roots fill the pots 
remove them to the greenhouse, and give no air opposite to them 
for a few days; then shift again into a size larger, giving each 
plant a neat little stick to hold it up securely, and enable it 
to run freely, growing, all to one stem. Keep close a little after 
potting, and then gradually give more air until they have it night 
and day before the end of May. Then, having the ground well 
pulverised and enriched, turn out each plant separately in the 
last week of May, or the first week in June, and fasten the shoot 
to the rail or post. When that shoot has got nearly to its height 
stop it. This will cause the side-shoots to break freely. If they 
show no signs of fruit when grown two or three joints long, 
stop again ; but they will generally be fruitful enough, and will 
require thinning rather than otherwise, if handsome, ripe fruit 
are desired. If the fence is some eight or nine feet high, each 
plant ought to have a yard or four feet in breadth. If the fence 
is lower, give more space. When first turned out, choose a 
GENTLEMAN, January 24, 1860. 
shady day, and shade a little with a branch for a few days if 
the weather should be hot and sunny. Water for the first 
month in the forenoon, using water heated to 70° or 80°. 
Of Cucumbers, CutkilVs Blade Spine, Stodacood Ridge, and 
Gherlcins would be the best. All these maybe used when young 
in the raw state, or stewed or boiled. 1 have never tried ripe 
Cucumbers, but some have told me they are little inferior to ripe 
Pumpkins. Unless in hot weather I do not consider Cucumbers 
in any quantity, and however prepared, to be very safe in the 
way of food. There is much truth in the old recipe ascribed to 
Dr. Johnson—“Slice them very thin, and encase them with 
plenty of oil, pepper and salt, and then pitch them to the rubbish- 
heap.” Used in moderation they are much relished by many. 
As to stopping and training they just need ns much and no more 
on a fence than they do on the ground, and will thrive and bear 
much better. By applying to some large seedsmen you may 
obtain some spotted and variegated species, but I should be very 
shy in using any such kinds in any way at the table. 
The next most useful are the true yellow Vegetable Marrows 
(Cucurbita oviferd), and the deeply-cut pretty Custard Marrow. 
To my own liking the last is one of the sweetest used when about 
the size of a turkey’s egg The others are also very nice when 
used about three inches long, and one inch and a half in diameter, 
boiled until they are soft enough, and then split up and the pulp 
removed, and eaten with salt, pepper, and a little butter. I am, 
however, no great judge, as they seemed so luscious I never could 
manage them above once or twice in the year. Most seedsmen 
have many varieties of different shapes and colours, striped, and 
variegated, which are more showy as ornaments than the above, 
but which are not better for use. 
The Pumpkin group (Cucurbita pepo), is greatly diversified 
in size, shape, and colour, many sorts being striped and variegated. 
The Spanish Pumpkin is one of the best varieties for using when 
young; but species and varieties are so continually changing, 
that a respectable nurseryman or seedsman would be the best 
source to apply to for obtaining a beautiful variety. The same 
may be said of Pumpkin Squash (Cucurbita melopepo ), warted 
Gourds, orange Gourds, ancl the great mammoth yellow Gourd 
(Cucurbita maxima), which last has been grown to above two 
hundred pounds in weight, with a yellow skin and a solid yellow 
flesh, and which'will keep a long while in a dry place, and may 
be used boiled as a vegetable or mixed with Apples and other 
things in tarts. I find that in this neighbourhood all kinds of 
Vegetable Marrows, Pumpkins, and these Gourds are made into all 
sorts of Pumpkin pies, mixed both with fruit and with meat. This 
large sort, however, would hardly do so well on such a narrow 
border—it would be apt to rob the others that had little of its 
gross strength. The best way to manage it would be to give it a 
place in the garden with a good exposure to itself; raise the 
ground into a hillock some six or eight feet in diameter; mix the 
soil well with rotten dung, and air the soil well before turning 
out the plant. When growing freely, whenever one or two fruit 
are set and swelling, pick off all others as they appear, and use 
them if you like. Give plenty of manure water as fast as the 
plant can drink it, and vary the kind of manure in the water 
frequently ; and then, when the fruit is full grown and ripe, cut 
them with as large a stalk as possible, and place them near the 
fence among the other kinds. Even if your friends discover this 
little bit of artifice, they will not be inclined to blame you severely. 
The last group I would mention are the Bottle and Hercules’- 
club Gourds (Laganaria vulgaris and clavata, &c.) The 
former when full grown resembling a beautiful Venetian bottle ; 
and the other a huge club ; with many other varieties, and these 
again of different colours, and some of which I have seen retain 
their beauty for several years in a dry room. These, however, in 
planting I would keep as much as possible by themselves; so 
that, when young fruit for the kitchen or for pickling was wanted, 
these should be entirely avoided, as neither in a green nor a ripe 
state are they considered to be free from poison. 
As already stated, the best plan for our correspondent to adopt 
would be to get from several of our best tradesmen two or three 
seeds of the most beautiful and singular kinds they possess. 
From what has come under my observation of late years, I believe 
that the wish for something tropical and singular in appearance 
is such a growing feeling, that it woidcl suit those who had a good 
collection of these and other singular things to advertise them 
with a short description, so that purchasers could choose better 
for themselves than they can do now. Of the merits, whether 
as to beauty or usefulness, of myriads of varieties of these tribes 
that are grown on the Continent, in India, in America, and even in 
