bing or creeping annual plant,
frequently more than twenty feet in height or length. The leaves are
large, round, heart-shaped, very soft and velvety to the touch, and emit
a peculiar, musky odor, when bruised or roughly handled. The flowers,
which are produced on very long stems, are white, and nearly three
inches in diameter. They expand towards evening, and remain in
perfection only a few hours; as they are generally found drooping and
withering on the ensuing morning. The young fruit is hairy, and quite
soft and tender; but, when ripe, the surface becomes hard, smooth, and
glossy. The seeds are five-eighths of an inch in length, somewhat
quadrangular, of a fawn-yellow color, and retain their vitality five
years. About three hundred are contained in an ounce.

_Cultivation._--The seeds are planted at the same time and in the same
manner as those of the Squash. The Gourd succeeds best when provided
with a trellis, or other support, to keep the plant from the ground; as
the fruit is best developed in a pendent or hanging position.

_Use._--The fruit, while still young and tender, is sometimes pickled in
vinegar, like cucumbers. At maturity, the flesh is worthless: but the
shells, which are very hard, light, and comparatively strong, are used
as substitutes for baskets; and are also formed into water-dippers, and
various other articles both useful and ornamental. The varieties are as
follow:--

BOTTLE GOURD. _Vil._

Fruit about a foot in length, contracted at the middle, largest at the
blossom-end, but swollen also at the part next the stem.

There is a sub-variety, very much larger; but it is also later.

HERCULES CLUB.

Courge Massue d'Hercule. _Vil._

Fruit very long. Specimens are frequently produced measuring upwards of
five feet in length. It is smallest towards the stem, and increases
gradually in size towards the opposite extremity, which is rounded, and
near which, in its largest diameter, it measures from four to five
inches. Its form is quite peculiar, and is not unlike that of a massive
club: whence the name.

It is frequently seen at horticultural and agricultural shows; and,
though sometimes exhibited as a "cucumber," has little or no value as
an esculent, and must be considered much more curious than useful. It is
of a pea-green color while growing, and the skin is then quite soft and
tender; but, like the other varieties, the surface becomes smooth, and
the skin very hard and shell-like, a