CUCURBITACEZ. 
by any of the ordinary methods of treatment.” The beds are 
made in December or January, the hot horse-dung having been 
previously turned and watered 5 or 6 times. Before earthing 
it, round flat mats, about 15 inches in diameter, formed by coil- 
ing up a band of straw, 1 inch in diameter, and 10 feet long, 
are to be prepared and placed on the dung, under the centre of 
each light. Rye straw is preferred for these mats, as it does 
not encourage mice. A bushel of compost, consisting of loam 
and rotten dung, is placed on each mat, and 1 plant in prefer- 
ence to more, on the top of each hillock; the top of the plant 
should be left about 3 inches from the glass; the mould should 
then be dressed up round the hillock, and be pressed close to 
the roots, and within 1 inch of the seed-leaves of the plant ; 
these, at no time of earthing, should be covered, for this is 
very apt to cause canker. The earth should be kept within 
the bounds of the straw mat, and not be suffered to mix with 
the dung, as that would cause a burning, which is not only trou- 
blesome, but in many instances fatal to the prosperity of the 
plant; because if the earth is once burnt, its vegetative quality 
is destroyed, and water will have no effect on it. The only 
remedy in such a case is to remove the mould, fork up and 
water the dung, lay on a little rye straw, and replace the earth. 
After ridging out, from one quarter to one inch of air is given 
in the day, and about one quarter during the night. The cover- 
ing must be very slight for the first 3 or 4 weeks, and must 
not hang over the sides. “ The heat must be kept up by aug- 
menting the linings once a-week, turning over and watering 
them when they heat so as to become dry. The bed inside the 
frame will require forking up about 9 inches deep, 3 times a- 
week; the hillocks at the same time should be examined, and 
a round pointed stick, of about an inch in diameter and 18 
inches long, must be thrust about 12 inches in the dung, under 
the straw mat, making 5 or 6 perforations under each hillock. 
Into each of the holes so formed, pour from the spout of a 
watering-pot as much water as the state of the bed seems to re- 
quire; this may be ascertained from the facility with which the 
perforator goes into the bed. If the bed is husky or burning, 
the stick will go in with difficulty, and then a large pot of water 
is required to a hillock; on the contrary, if the bed is in a free 
state of working, the perforator will go into it very easily, and 
then a sprinkling from the rose of the pot will be sufficient.” 
A great object of Mr. Allen seems to be to sweeten, rot, and 
moisten the dung under the frame for the roots of the plants, 
while the heat is principally supplied by the linings. ‘“ The 
dung,” he says, “ from the continued forking and watering, will 
become in a fine state to receive the roots of the plants; these, 
after passing through the proper depth of compost, placed over 
the dung, which is about 8 inches, will readily strike into the 
dung, and bear a productive crop of cucumbers throughout the 
summer, without their leaves flagging or requiring any shade. 
For ascertaining the proper periods to make additions to the 
earth, the best criterion is the appearance of the roots through 
the sides of the hillock. This should be earthed over about 3 
inches, each time forking out the dung 2 inches below the mat, 
to give a greater depth of earth each time of performing the 
Operation. The last time this is done, the depth of mould at 
the back of the frame should be 20 inches. It will be necessary 
to raise the frame and lights as the plants advance in growth.” 
Water should be given plentifully 3 times a-week, without wet- 
ting the leaves or fruit, “ pouring it against the back of the 
frame, for the mould will dry faster against the back than the 
front, in consequence of the heat being there greater, and the 
air being admitted there.” ‘ In pruning, the runners should 
not be cut or thinned out, the tops only should be pinched, and 
at every joint, beginning where the plant has 2 rough leaves, and 
the second rough leaf is about an inch in diameter. That will 
IV. Cucumis. 23 
cause the plant to produce fruit and a fresh runner in succession 
at every joint; it will likewise add to the strength of the plant.” 
Pinch off the tendrils and male blossoms, and fecundate arti- 
ficially in the early part of the season, The sort of cucumber 
which Mr. Allen finds most productive is the Southgate, and 
he prefers seed 3 or 4 years old to new seed.—Loud. gard. mag. 
vol. 1. p. 416, 417. 
Insects and diseases.—The thrips sometimes attack early cu- 
cumbers, and are to be destroyed by fumigation. The red spider 
rarely makes its appearance ; when he does water must have 
been improperly withheld. Some soils produce canker in the 
shoots, especially where they branch from the main stem. When 
this is the case, the only resource is to renew the soil and the 
plants. 
Growing the cucumber under hand-glasses.—The following 
method is given by M‘Phail as that generally practised: “ The 
seeds are sown some time about the middle of April in a cucum- 
ber or melon-bed, and when they come up, they are potted out 
into small pots, 2 or 3 plants in each pot, and are kept properly 
watered, and stopped at the first and second joints. About the 
middle of May, a warm situation, where the mould is very rich 
is pitched on, and a trench is dug out about 2 feet deep, 3 feet 
broad, and the length is proportioned according to the number 
of glasses it is intended for. This trench is filled with good 
warm dung, and when the dung has come to its full heat, it is 
covered over with 8, 10, or 12 inches’ depth of rich mould. The 
glasses are then set upon it about 3 feet distant from each other, 
and when the mould gets warm under them, the plants are 
turned out of the pots with their balls whole, and plunged into 
the mould under the glasses, and a little water given them to 
settle the mould about their roots, the glasses set over them, 
and after they have made roots, and begin to grow, in fine days 
the glasses raised a little on one side, to let the plants have the 
free air; and as the weather gets warmer and warmer, air is 
given more plentifully to harden the plants, so that they may 
be able to bear the open air and run from under the glasses. 
When the plants begin to fill the glasses, they are trained out 
horizontally, and the glasses are set upon bricks or such like, 
to bear them from the plants. After this the plants require 
nothing more but to be supplied with water when the summer 
showers are not sufficient, and to stop them when they run too 
thin of branches, and thin them of leaves or branches when 
they are likely to become over-crowded. In warm summers 
and in warm situations, by this mode of management, the plants 
will bear plentifully for about 2 months, provided they be not 
attacked by insects or weakened by diseases.” Abercrombie 
describes the practice somewhat different, but with his usual 
detail and order, He says, “ To have a general summer crop, 
to fruit in hot-bed ridges under hand-glasses, sow some seed of 
the long prickly kind in a hot-bed, under a frame or hand-glass, 
or in any cucumber hot-bed in cultivation, about the middle of 
March, or thence till the middle of April. When the plants 
have been up 3, 4, or 5 days, prick some in the same or another 
hot-bed, 3 or 4 inches asunder. A portion may be put in small 
pots, 3 plants in each, and plunged ina bed. Give water, and 
shade from the sun till they take root; and manage as for the 
frame crop. In 3 or 4 weeks, when advanced in the first rough 
leaves, about 2 inches broad, and stopped at the first joint as 
directed in the early crop, the plants should be ridged out, that 
is, transplanted into hot-bed ridges, under hand-glasses, to re- 
main for fruiting. The period for this may fluctuate from the 
middle of April to the beginning of May. Having a sufficient 
quantity of prepared dung, make a hot-bed on the level ground, 
3} or 4 feet wide, and 2} feet high, the length as required, ac- 
cording to the number of hand-glasses intended. Earth it at 
top 6 or 8 inches thick, and place the hand-glasses along the 
