PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER XXVI. — CULTUBK OF CUCUMBERS, MELONS, AND GOURDS. 



The culture of any one class of cu- 

 curbits may be made a key to the 

 culture of all the rest. A man who 

 has acquired skill in the management 

 of the cucumber, if he has never at- 

 tempted to grow melons, will soon 

 hit upon the plan of producing them 

 in perfection, and may only need to 

 be told to give them more heat, more 

 sun, less moisture, and plenty of stiff 

 soil, with very little manure. So the 

 cottager who has become expert in 

 growing gourds and marrows, will find 

 it an easy matter to turn his hand to 

 cucumbers, and will only need to be 

 advised to keep up a steady heat in a 

 dung frame, and to practise a system 

 of stopping, and supply plenty of 

 atmospheric moisture. Necessarily 

 in dealing with three sections of one 

 family, which differ chiefly as to their 

 relative hardiness, many considera- 

 tions will apply to all alike, and it 

 will be necessary for the reader to 

 keep this in mind, that the writer 

 may thereby avoid repetitions, and, 

 as far as possible, make the several 

 points of culture illustrative of each 

 other. 



The first consideration on en- 

 tering upon the culture of cucumbers 

 or melons is the choice of a structure 

 for the purpose. In times gone by, 

 there was nothing better than the hot 

 frame or pit, heated with leaves and 

 stable manure, and in skilful hands 

 there was generally no difficulty in 

 obtaining plenty of fruit. But in a 

 dull, cold summer, the dung-frame 

 was very uncertain in productiveness, 

 and as horticulture progressed, pits 

 and houses heated with hot water 

 were specially provided for them, and 

 to a great extent the cultivator has, 

 by the help of these, been enabled 

 almost to defy the damp and drizzle 

 and chill of an unfavourable season. 

 This question of the choice of a 

 structure is of the greatest import- 

 ance. All things considered, nothing 

 can surpass a well-built pit with open 

 beds heated by hot water, and the 

 lights furnished with trellis wires, on 



which to train the vines. When pits 

 are built for the purpose, it is worth 

 considering that a houseful of melons 

 or cucumbers, showing a rich screen 

 of foliage between the eye and the 

 sun, and the fruits hanging below it, 

 as they would naturally if the plants 

 were twining among the trees of their 

 native soils, is one of the finest sights 

 in the whole range of horticultural 

 exhibitions, and those who can afford 

 to build well should certainly give the 

 preference to a form of house in which 

 this sight can be enjoyed in its sea- 

 son. We give the preference to hot 

 water in pipes or a tank, because of 

 the certainty with which the tempe- 

 rature may be regulated, the clean- 

 liness with which all the cultural 

 operations may be performed, and the 

 facilities afforded for displaying the 

 beauty of the plants. There are at 

 least two points in favour of the 

 dung-bed : in the first place, it suits 

 the pocket of the poor cultivator, for 

 though it entails much labour, the 

 money outlay for a good pit or a few 

 frames need not be large, and the cost 

 of manure is all returned in the ma- 

 terial itself when it is cleared out in 

 a rotten state for other purposes ; 

 secondly, the atmosphere of a well- 

 managed dung frame is admirably 

 suited to the growing plants, the 

 moisture and the ammoniacal vapour 

 are both eminently favourable to 

 luxurious vegetation. 



The Cucumbek {Cucumis sativus) 

 Seed-bed. — It is best to raise the 

 seedling plants in a small dung-frame, 

 because of the superior strength of 

 the seedlings, owing to the favour- 

 able nature of the atmosphere. But 

 the pots containing the seeds may be 

 placed ou fermenting tan, or on a bed 

 over a tank, anywhere, indeed, where 

 they can have a steady moist heat of 

 about 75°. In any case the pots 

 should be plunged in some sweet ma- 

 terial, such as tan, leaf-mould, or 

 cocoa-nut dust. The seed should be 

 new and plump, the soil to sow them 

 in a mixture of the turfiest part of 



