Gourd, and Pompion; a genus of plants belonging to the monœcia class; and in the natural method ranking under the 34th order, Cucurbitaceæ. See Botany Index.

All the species of gourds and pompions, with their respective varieties, are raised from seed sown annually in April or the beginning of May, either with or without the help of artificial heats. But the plants forwarded in a hot bed till about a month old, produce fruit a month or fix weeks earlier on that account, and ripen proportionably sooner. The first species particularly will scarce ever produce tolerably fized fruit in this country, without the treatment above mentioned.

In this country these plants are cultivated only for curiosity; but in the places where they are natives, they answer many important purposes. In both the Indies, bottle-gourds are very commonly cultivated and sold in the markets. They make the principal food of the common people, particularly in the warm months of June, July, and August. The Arabians call this kind of gourd charrah. It grows commonly on the mountains in their deserts. The natives boil and season it with vinegar; and sometimes, filling the shell with rice and meat, make a kind of pudding of it. The hard shell is used for holding water, and some of them are capacious enough to contain 22 gallons; these, however, are very uncommon. The fruit of the pompion likewise constitutes a great part of the food of the common people during the hot months, in those places where they grow. If gathered when not much bigger than a hen or goose egg, and properly seasoned with butter, vinegar, &c. they make a tolerable good sauce for butcher's meat, and are also used in soups. In England they are seldom used till grown to maturity. A hole is then made in one side, through which the pulp is scooped out; after being divested of the seeds, it is mixed with sliced apples, milk, sugar, and grated nutmeg, and thus a kind of pudding is made. The whole is then baked in the oven, and goes by the name of a pumpkin pye. For this purpose the plants are cultivated in many places in England by the country people, who raise them upon old dung-hills. The third species is also used in North America for culinary purposes. The fruit is gathered when about half grown, boiled and eaten as sauce to butcher's meat. The squashes are also treated in the same manner, and by some people esteemed delicate eating.

CUCURBITACEÆ, the name of the 34th order in Linnaeus's fragments of a natural method, consisting of plants which resemble the gourd in external figure, habit, virtues, and sensible qualities. This order contains the following genera, viz. gronovia, melothria, passiflora, anguria, bryonia, cucumis, cucurbita, tevillea, monomorica, fieyos, trichofanthes.