266 Bulletin 231. 



and one who has made a great commercial success of the business. 

 Mr. Kendall's answers are of great value to those in the business and 

 those interested : 



1. What is the usual time of starting the commercial crop? 

 Answer. The time of starting the "cuke" plants depends on the 



time you want them. Cukes, of late years, do so badly out of doors 

 that the gardeners are raising them in the greenhouses all the year 

 through. They are ready to gather two months from the time the 

 seed is sown. 



2. What are your preferences in regard to soil? 



Answer. The best soil to grow "cukes" in, is a sandy loam, with 

 plenty of good, fresh horse manure, — say about one-third manure. 

 I have grown good cukes in clear sand and horse manure. 



3. What is the method of pollinating flowers? 



Answer. The method of pollinating the flowers is one of Nature's 

 own and the best I know of, viz., by the use of bees; but I have done 

 it^^by hand with good success. A man will pollinate about five 

 hundred flowers in one hour after he gets used to it. When 

 bees are employed, I use one male to about six female blossoms. 



4. What is the method of training and pruning vines? 



Answer. I train the vine up to about ten feet and then nip off the 

 head from the main vine; but I also nip off every lateral at the first 

 joint beyond the cuke. I also keep all joints clean — say about 

 twenty inches from the ground. 



5. How packed and marketed? 



Answer. I pack all cukes in bushel boxes containing ninety-six 

 cukes, and put on a tight cover to keep all air from them. I send 

 them to any good reliable commission house, and pay about ten per 

 cent for selling. 



6. What varieties are grown? 



Answer. The variety I grow is some kind of White Spine. Al- 

 most every man has a kind of his own. Mine are well-bred White 

 Spine, the purer the better. 



7. What is the temperature maintained in the house? 



Answer. The. temperature in the house should be abo"ut sixty- 

 five degrees at night, and ninety to one hundred degrees in good 

 sunshiny days. 



8. Remarks on construction of cucumber houses. 



Answer. The plans for a good cuke house would be to build it 

 twenty-three feet wide and two hundred feet long; solid bed in 

 center, ten feet wide; and raised bed each side a,bout four feet wide, 

 with pipes for heating under the side beds. 



