[1] An instance to the contrary has been recorded by Mr A. C. Smith
(_Zoologist_, 1873, p. 3516) on Mr Brine's authority.
[2] This series was seen in 1861 by the writer.
[3] Evidence tends to show that the same is to be said of the curious
channel-bill (_Scythrops novae-hollandiae_), though absolute proof
seems to be wanting.
CUCKOO-SPIT, a frothy secretion found upon plants, and produced by the
immature nymphal stage of various plant-lice of the familiar
_Cercopidae_ and _Jassidae_, belonging to the homopterous division of
the Hemiptera, which in the adult condition are sometimes called
frog-hoppers.
CUCUMBER (_Cucumis sativus_, Fr. _concombre_, O. Fr. _coucombre_, whence
the older English spelling and pronunciation "cowcumber," the standard
in England up to the beginning of the 18th 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 [Greek: sikuos]; 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 greenhouses 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
1(1/2) 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. sativus 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 aegyptiaco-arabica_, p.
168, 1775). The squirting cucumber, _Ecballium Elaterium_, the [Greek:
Sikuos agrios] 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_ (1900).
CUCURBITACEAE, a botanical order of dicotyledons, containing 87 genera
and about 650 species, found in the temperate and warmer parts of the
earth but especially developed in the tropics. The plants are generally
annual herbs, climbing by means of tendrils and having a rapid growth.
The long-stalked leaves are arranged alternately, and are generally
palmately lobed and veined. The flowers or inflorescences are borne in
the leaf-axils, in which a vegetative bud is also found, and at the side
of the leaf-stalk is a simple or branched tendril. There has been much
difference of opinion as to what member or members the tendril
represents; the one which seems most in accordance with facts regards
the tendril as a shoot, the lower portion representing the stem, the
upper twining portion a leaf. The flowers are unisexual, and strikingly
epigynous, the perianth and stamens being attached to a bell-shaped
prolongation of the receptacle above the ovary. The five narrow pointed
sepals are followed by five petals which are generally united to form a
more or less bell-shaped corolla. There are five stamens in the male
flowers; the anthers open towards the outside, are one-celled, with the
pollen-sacs generally curved and variously united. The carpels, normally
three in number, form an ovary with three thick, fleshy, bifid placentas
bearing a large number of ovules on each side, and generally filling the
interior of the ovary with a juicy mass. The short thick style has
generally three branches each bearing a fleshy, usually forked stigma.
The fruit is a fleshy many-seeded berry with a tough rind (known as a
_pepo_), and often attains considerable size. The embryo completely
fills the seed.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--_Bryonia dioica_, Bryony. 1, part of corolla of
male flower with attached stamens; 2, female flower after removal of
calyx and corolla; 3, berries; 1, 2, 3 about nat. size.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.
1, Male flower of cucumber (_Cucumis_).
2, Same, in vertical section, slightly enlarged.
3, Stamens, after removal of calyx and corolla.
4, Female flower.
5, Horizontal plan of male flower.
6, Transverse section of fruit.