TIIE PLORiL WORLD AND GASDEN" GUIDE. 



57 



fruits to hang down naturally. New 

 hazel rods make the be3t trellis for 

 frames and pits, but in a forcing house 

 there should be a permaueat trellis 

 of iron rods and wires. In ease of 

 green - fly or thrips fumigate with 

 tobacco. In case of " gum," which 

 is a sort of oozing of thickened juice 

 from the joints of the stem and from 

 the fruit, shade from mid-day sun, 

 and starve the plants. The disease is 

 incurred by the absorption into the 

 vessels of more matters than can be 

 organized ; it is in fact the result of 

 repletion. 



Otir-DOOE CcrCTTJUBERS & GOTTEDS, 



— The culture of the cucumber in the 

 open air is a very simple matter, and 

 in good seasons pays well. There 

 are various methods pursued. In 

 some cases warm borders are chosen, 

 and having been dug over and ma- 

 nured, saucer-like hollows are formed 

 eighteen inches iu diameter, two inches 

 deep, and five feet apart. About the 

 middle of May half-a-dozen seeds are 

 sown in each of these hollows, and 

 the plants are protected at night with 

 inverted flower-pots, until the season 

 has sufiiciently advanced to allow 

 them to be fully exposed to sunshine 

 and night dews. In other cases the 

 plants are raised under hand-glasses, 

 from seed sown at the end of April ; 

 when strong enough they are trans- 

 planted in patches of three or four 

 plants each, and left to grow as they 

 will, without stopping. The market 

 growers sow in the last week in 

 March ; the plants are grown on 

 strong in small pots, and at the end 

 of April are ridged out under hand- 

 glasses, and the handlights are kept in 

 use until the end of June. The ridges 

 on which the plants are placed out are 

 formed on trenches two and a-half feet 

 wide, two feet deep, and with sis feet 

 intervals between. The trenches are 

 filled with fermenting dung that has 

 been turned as for any other hot-bed, 

 in quantity sufficient to make a ridge 

 sis inches higher than the alleys be- 

 ' tween. Over the dung is spread sis 

 inches of good soil. In about three 

 days the heat will have risen, and the 

 plants are put out. We have for 

 many years grown ridge cucumbers, 

 gourds, and marrows by a plan which 



we consider superior to the foregoing. 

 The seeds are sown at the end of 

 March, and the plants have good 

 culture iu an unheated suuny lean-to 

 house until the beginning of May. By 

 that time they have beentwice stopped, 

 and are strong bushy plants, potted 

 singly in forty-eight sized pots. The 

 beds are marked out four feet wide 

 with three feet alleys between. The 

 earth is taken out from the beds, and 

 ridged up in the alley; and at the same 

 time plenty of good manure is mised 

 with it. Two feet depth of half rotten 

 dung is then laid down, and for this 

 purpose we use the material from hot- 

 beds which have been in work since 

 February, and are now getting cool. 

 The earth from the ridges is then 

 thrown on the dung, the plants are 

 put out at once, strong growing mar- 

 rows five feet apart, cucumbers andcus- 

 j tard gourds three or four feet apart. 

 They are well watered, and covered 

 with large pots or handlights for a 

 week, and theu left to take care of 

 themselves. They enjoy a good bot- 

 tom-heat, and grow vigorously. We 

 never stop after they are turned out. 

 GocRDS, Squashes, & Markows. 

 — Some of the small-growing varieties 

 of marrows will grow in any good 

 garden soil, without bottom-heat or 

 any special attention. But when 

 carelessly treated, there is great risk 

 of entire failure of the crop in an 

 ungenial season, and in the best sea- 

 sons the produce will fall far short 

 both in quality and quantity from 

 what might be had by a thoroughl}' 

 systematic course of culture. For the 

 production of a good supply of mar- 

 rows and squashes for the table dur- 

 ing summer, we have already oflfered 

 a few practical hints in the section 

 on ridging out cucumbers. Where it 

 is required to grow large gourds for 

 winter use, a great bulk ot fermenting 

 material should be provided, and 

 having been frequently turned, should 

 be made into a mound, and soiled 

 over with one foot depth of strong 

 loam, with which has been incor- 

 porated about a sixth part of rotten 

 dung. The plants should always be 

 brought forward in pots, so as to be 

 strong by the middle of May. The 

 manner in which marrows and gourds 



