CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativus, Fr. concombre, O. Fr. coucombre, whence the older

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• ENGLISH

English spelling and

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• PRONUNCIATION (Lat. pronuntiatio, from pronuntiare, proclaim, announce, pronounce)

pronunciation " cowcumber," the

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• STANDARD
• STANDARD, BATTLE OF THE

standard in

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• ENGLAND
• ENGLAND, THE CHURCH OF

England up to the beginning of the 18th

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• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century)  , a creeping plant of the natural order Cucurbitaceae . It is widely cultivated, and originated probably in northern India, where Alphonse de Candolle affirms (Origin of Cultivated Plants) that it has been cultivated for at least three thousand years . It spread westward to Europe and was cultivated by the ancient Greeks under the name viiwos; it did not reach China until two hundred years before the Christian era . It is an annual with a rough succulent trailing stem and stalked hairy leaves with three to five pointed lobes; the stem bears branched tendrils by means of which the plant can be trained to supports . The short-stalked, bell-shaped flowers are unisexual, but staminate and pistillate are borne on the same plant; the latter are recognized by the swollen warty green ovary below the rest of the flower . The ovary develops into the " cucumber " without fertilization, and unless seeds are wanted, it is advisable to pinch off the male flowers . There are a great many varieties of cucumber in cultivation, which may be grouped under the two headings (1) forcing, (2). field varieties . 1 . The former are large-leaved strong-growing plants, not suited to outdoor culture, with long smooth-rinded fruit; there are many excellent varieties such as Telegraph, Sion House, duke of Edinburgh, &c . The plants are grown in a hot-bed which is prepared towards the end of February from rich stable manure, leaves, &c . A rich turfy loam with a little well-decomposed stable manure forms a good soil . The seeds are sown singly in rich, sandy soil in small pots early in February and plunged in a bottom heat .

After they have made one or two foliage-leaves the seedlings are transferred to larger pots, and ultimately about the

middle of March to the hot-bed . Each plant is placed in the centre of a mound of soil about a foot deep and well watered with tepid water . The plants should be well watered during their growing period, and the foliage sprinkled or syringed two or three times a day . In bright sunshine the plants are lightly shaded . When grown in frames the tops of the main stems are pinched off when the stems are about 2 ft. long; this causes the development of side shoots on which fruits are borne . When these have produced one or two fruits, they are also stopped at the joint beyond the fruit . When grown in green-houses the vines may be allowed to reach the full length of the house before they are stopped . To keep the fruits straight they may be grown in cylindrical glass tubes about a foot long, or along narrow wooden troughs . If seeds are required one or more female flowers should be selected and pollen from male flower placed on their stigmas . 2 . The outdoor varieties are known as hill or ridge cucumbers . They may be grown in any good soil .

A warm, sheltered spot with a

south aspect and a mound of rich, sandy loam with a little leaf-mould placed over a hot-bed of dung and leaves is recommended . The mounds or ridges should be 4 to 5 ft. apart, and one plant is placed in the centre of each . The seeds are sown in March in light, rich soil in small pots with gentle heat . The seedlings are repotted and well hardened for planting out in June . The plants must be well watered in and, until established, shaded by a hand-light from bright sunshine . When the leading shoots are from 11 to 2 ft. long the tips are pinched off to induce the formation of fruit-bearing side-shoots . If seed is required a pistillate flower is selected and pollinated . There are numerous varieties distinguished by size and the smooth or prickly rind . King of the Ridge has smooth fruits a foot or more long; gherkin, a short, prickly form, is much used for pickling . Cucumber is subject to the attacks of green fly, red spider and thrips; for the two latter, infected leaves should be sponged with soapy water; for green fly careful fumigating is necessary . The Sikkim cucumber, C. satires var. sikkimensis, is a large fruited form, reaching 15 in. long by 6 in. thick, grown in the Himalayas of Sikkim and Nepal . It was discovered by Sir Joseph Hooker in the eastern Himalayas in 1848 .

He says " so abundant were the fruits, that for days together I saw gnawed fruits lying by the natives' paths by thousands, and every

man, woman and child seemed engaged throughout the day in devouring them." The fruit is reddish-brown, marked with yellow, and is eaten both raw and cooked . The West India gherkin is Cucumis Anguria, a plant with small, slender vines, and very abundant small ellipsoid green fruit covered with warts and spines . It is used for pickling . Cucumbers were much esteemed by the ancients . According to Pliny, the emperor Tiberius was supplied with them daily, both in summer and winter . The kishuim or cucumbers of the scriptures (Num. xi . 5; Isa. i . 8) were probably a wild form of C . Melo, the melon, a plant common in Egypt, where a drink is prepared from the ripe fruit . Peter Forskal, one of the early botanical writers on the country, describes its preparation . The pulp is broken and stirred by means of a stick thrust through a hole cut at the umbilicus of the fruit; the hole is then closed with wax, and the fruit, without removing it from its stem, is buried in a little pit; after some days the pulp is found to be converted into an agreeable liquor (see Flora aegyptiacoarabica, p . 168, 1775) .

The squirting cucumber, Ecballium

Elaterium, the Elicvos a-yptos of Theophrastus, furnishes the drug elaterium (q.v.) . See Naudin in Annal. des sci. nat. ser . 4 (Botany), t. xi . (1859); G . Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening (1885) ; L . H . Bailey, Cyclopaedia of American Horticulture (190 .