i a z DAV AIT cB ntaTi Kevditebate LNA 
seeds to be highly nourishin 
| of a more extensive culture than is bestowed on 
| sage of sand or gravel. 
912 
CUCUMBER. 
s 
with different hues of yellow, and from four to! long green prickly, the most long green prickly, 
six inches in length, and from three to four 
inches in breadth. ‘ This,” says a scientific ob- 
server, “ appears to me to be by far the most 
useful species of cucumis that I know. When 
little more than one-half grown, the fruits are 
oblong and a little downy ; in this state, they are 
pickled. When ripe, they are about as large as 
an ostrich’s egg, smooth and yellow; when cut, 
they have much the flavour of the melon, and | 
will keep for several months, if carefully gathered 
without being bruised, and hung up; they are 
also in this state eaten raw, and much used in 
curries by the natives. The seeds, like those of 
other cucurbitaceous fruits, contain much fari- 
naceous matter blended with a large portion of 
mild oil. The natives dry and grind them into 
a meal, which they employ as an article of diet; 
they also express a mild oil from them, which 
they use in food and to burn in their lamps. 
Experience, as well as analogy, proves these 
g, and well deserving 
them at present. The powder of the toasted 
seeds, mixed with sugar, is said to be a powerful 
diuretic, and serviceable in promoting the pas- 
As far as my observation 
and information go, their cultivation is chiefly 
confined to the Guntoor Circar, where the seeds 
form a considerable branch of commerce. They 
are mixed with those of Holcus Sorghum or some 
other of the large culmiferous tribe, and sown 
together; these plants run on the surface of the 
earth, and help to shade them from the sun, so | 
| that they mutually help each other. 
The cir- 
cumstance of the fruit keeping well for several 
months if carefully gathered and suspended, ren- 
ders it a very excellent article to carry to sea 
| during long voyages.” 
The species of cucumber commonly cultivated 
in Britain, Cucumis sativus, was introduced from 
India in the latter part of the 16th century, but 
is not known to grow anywhere in a wild condi- 
tion. It produces its fruit on long trailing and 
climbing shoots; and is cultivated in frames, 
under hand-glasses, or in the open ground, ac- 
cording to the season of the year and the tem- 
perature of the situation. It is noted for the 
abundance of the production of its fruit; and 
though a very tender annual, of but a few months’ 
duration, it easily admits of such succession as 
shall produce a constant series of fresh fruit 
throughout the year. Its fruit is eaten in a 
green or unripe state, both as a salad and as a 
pickle; and has long been a subject of excessive 
| amateurship with both the gourmand and the 
gardener. Many varieties of it are in cultiva- 
tion; and good new ones are from time to time 
- obtained by hybridizing, and published with the 
same kind of pomp in both name and manner as 
new varieties of dahlias, calceolarias, and other 
popular flowering-plants. Some of the chief va- 
rieties are the early short green prickly, the early 
the white Dutch prickly, the early African, the 
long smooth green Turkey, the long white Tur- 
key, the early green cluster, the large smooth 
green Roman, the Russian, the Nepaul, the sandy, 
the large white bonneuil, the black-spined long 
prickly, the Longford, the snake, the fluted Chi- 
nese, and some quite or comparatively recent sorts 
with such magniloquent designations as ‘ heroes’ 
and ‘ victories.’ The early short prickly has fruit 
of about four inches in length, and is the hardiest 
of all the varieties, and both a rapid grower and 
a very abundant bearer ; and it is very frequently 
selected for an early crop. The early long prickly 
produces fruit of about nine inches in length, 
has hardy habits, and is an abundant bearer, but 
advances somewhat slowly to maturity ; and it is 
often selected for a main crop. ‘The most long 
green prickly has fruit of ®bout ten inches in 
length, and is hardy in habit and a good bearer. 
The white Dutch prickly has fruit of about six 
inches in length, and of a peculiar yet agreeable 
flavour ; and) it is a rapid bearer. The early 
green dlncten has the characteristics of growing 
in a compact manner and producing its fruit in 
clusters, and is, in consequence, well adapted for 
growth beneath hand-glasses. The Russian ex- 
cels in the production of the small and finely- 
pickling kinds of cucumbers commonly called ger- 
kins; and the large white bonneuil, in the pro- 
dination of a fruit well adapted for stewing. The | 
Longford and some of the other varieties are re- 
markable chiefly ‘for the great size of their fruit; 
and some of the more recent varieties, ‘ the vic- 
tories’ and ‘ the heroes,’ profess, if very techni- 
cally cultivated, to combine great size with very 
superior flavour. The fruit of the Nepaul is 
sometimes eight inches in diameter, nearly a foot 
and a half in length, and about twelve pounds in 
weight; and the fruit of the snake, though com- 
paratively small in diameter, attains the extra- _ 
ordinary length of several feet. 
The cultivation of the cucumber, ina general, | 
manner, is understood by every gardener, and, in” 
nicety of detail, is the subject of a vast apne 
of different and antagonist opinion. Six works, 
entirely on the cucumber, and written by six dif- 
ferent authors, were published during the two or | 
three years preceding 1842; all ordinary books 
on gardening say quite enough on the subject; 
and some of the horticultural periodicals, parti- | 
cularly the Gardener’s Gazette, contain as many | 
discussions on it as might serve for all the plants | 
of the garden. We shall merely indicate the 
outline of the general culture, and then quote a 
brief sentence or two from the treatise of Mr. | 
 Allen—The seed employed should be between 
two and four years old, Sowings should be made 
on well-prepared hotbeds from January or Feb- 
ruary till June;:and, on very fine, fresh, friable 
soil in the open ground, such as the top-spot of 
a pasture spread out and prepared on a warm 
border and under the shelter of a hedge, toward 
on 
SS 
