3-008-979 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

International exhibition of fruits, vegetables, etc., in the Horticultural Society's gardens - gourds, 1862. 'Besides the domestic contributions, which were of magnificent size and quality, there were fruits or vegetables from France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Hamburg, Altona, Sweden, and even from Lapland...the English show was magnificent, but it found formidable rivals in the continental specimens, which, it must be remembered, were all grown in the open air...The extensive family of the gourds was most fully represented, from the gigantic sort, out of which, we are told, Cinderella's state coach was made, down to the minute gooseberry, said to be the smallest of the whole gourd family...[Depicted are:] a black decanter gourd, zebra gourd melon, new artichoke marrow, nugget gourd, custard marrow, Turk's cap gourd, the favourite; bottle-gourd, and egg-shaped gourd: these are selected from the collections of T. Cattle, Westerham, and of Messrs. Barr and Sugden, King-street, Covent-garden, to both of whom prizes were awarded'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.