. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . here in one of ourEast India ships, and came probably from Persia,where, as I am told, it is known, and called cultivation is easy. If any other kind of gourdgrow in the neighbourhood, no reliance can be placedon the goodness of the seed of the vegetable marrow. The Water-melon (Cucurbita Citrullus), thoughnot much cultivated in this country, is one of themost valuable vegetables in warm and arid climates,answering there both for food and drink. The fruit THE LOVE-APPLE. 291 is larp;e,
. A description and history of vegetable substances, used in the arts, and in domestic economy . here in one of ourEast India ships, and came probably from Persia,where, as I am told, it is known, and called cultivation is easy. If any other kind of gourdgrow in the neighbourhood, no reliance can be placedon the goodness of the seed of the vegetable marrow. The Water-melon (Cucurbita Citrullus), thoughnot much cultivated in this country, is one of themost valuable vegetables in warm and arid climates,answering there both for food and drink. The fruit THE LOVE-APPLE. 291 is larp;e, tlie flesh sweet and succulent, and thejuice (IclifrhtfuUy cool. Hasselquist, however, re-commends caution in the use of this gourd, for,says he, it chilled my stomach like a bit of ice *.It is a native of the south of Europe, of Egypt, andthe Levant, and of South America. In the penin-sula of Araya, where sometimes rain does not fallfor fifteen months, water-melons weighing from fiftyto seventy pounds are not uncommont- It wasintroduced into England about the same time withthe common Egg-plant and Love-apple. Love-apple—Solanuni lycopersicum. The love-apple, or tomata, is a native of the tropicalparts of South America; but as it now thrives well inthe warmer countries of Europe, and will, if the plantsare forwarded in a hot-bed in the early part of theseason, produce fruit with as much certainty in thiscountry, upon a warm border, it may be consideredas naturalized in the temperate regions. It is anannual: the leaves and flowers have some resem- • Travels in the Levant, p. 257, Humboldt, Voyages,liv, iii.,chap, viii. o92- VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. blance to those of the potatoe, only the latter areyellow. The fruit, when ripe, attains the size of asmall apple. It is compressed at the crown andbase, and fiirrowed along the sides; the whole is ofmiiform colour, and smooth and shining-. There aresome varieties both in the shape and colour of thefruit; bright red and
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