April 5, 1377. ) 



JOURNAL OF HOJJTICULIUaE AND GOITAGE (JAilUENEK. 



.jHy 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



CUCUMBER CULTURE IN FRAMES AND 

 HOUSES.— No. 1. 



HAT to grow, bow to grow, when to grow, 

 and where to grow, are questions which 

 cause indecision to many would-be growers 

 of Cucumbers at this season of the year. 

 A few hints, therefore, may prove accept- 

 able, and serve to assist by guiding to a 

 successful issue. 



Cucumber culture is by no means difiB- 

 cnlt, yet there are nevertheless certain 

 details requh-ing special attention — failing 

 which a full measure of success cannot bo obtained. There 

 is no mystery here ; cause and effect can be readily traced, 

 and the skilled practitioner can tell at a glance what has 

 ruined Jones's crop or caused Brown's fruit to become 

 yellow-tipped and curled. 



Taking first the process to be followed with an ordinary 

 garden frame upon a hotbed, we must not forget that the 

 hotbed will exercise an important influence upon the 

 plants, and whether that influence proves beneficial or 

 otherwise will depend in a great measure upon its con- 

 struction. The plan to which I give preference is to 

 throw fresh stable dung in a heap for a week, taking care 

 to make it thoroughly wet by pouring water from the 

 rose of a large waterpot upon each layer of the manure 

 as it is thrown together, which induces heat to generate 

 with great rapidity. By the end of the week it is in 

 readiness for the bed, which is made 2 feet longer and 

 wider than the box, and carried to the required height of 

 5 feet in front and a foot higher at the back by alternate 

 layers of dung and oak or beech leaves. A bed of dung 

 alone answers very well, but leaves should always be 

 ■ased when they can be had, as the heat is then more 

 lasting. Whatever be the material used it is well trodden 

 as layer after layer is put on till the bed is finished. The 

 sides are well beaten with the back of a fork to make 

 them close and firm and so prevent the escape of heat; 

 the box with its glass lights is put on, and straw or Utter 

 of any kind piled upon the edge of the bed up to the top 

 of the box, which is thus made quite snug. The heat 

 soon rises in the box, and in a fortnight from the making 

 of the bed plants may be turned out of pots into little 

 hillocks of soil consisting of equal quantities of loam s^nd 

 leaf soil, or, better still, old and decayed dung, taking 

 care to have a layer of slates or tiles upon the surface of 

 the bed beneath the soil, so as to prevent hot vapour 

 scalding the roots. If the bed is made very early in the 

 year the heat will decline so much before the weather 

 becomes warm that it will be necessary to put linings of 

 hot dang around the bed some 3 feet in thickness and 

 continued from the bottom of the bed upwards to the 

 top of the box, care being taken to prevent the hot rank 

 vapour penetrating inside the frame, or the fohage will 

 probably suffer. 



Turning now to the plants the question at once arises — 

 How shall we obtain them ? Answer : Do not have them 

 from a distance by rail ; do not send a man for miles 



Ko, 836,— Vol, XXXn., New Sbbies. 



across country with a box for them, but raise them your- 

 self by sowing seed in a pot and plunging it in soil in 

 the frame on the tenth day after the making of the bed, 

 laying a piece of glass over the soil in the pot to keep the 

 seed safe from the depredations of mice. The plants will 

 appear in a day or two, and they may either be potted 

 for a week or prioked-out upon the hillocks at once ; in 

 either case there will be very little loss of time, for the 

 plants will sustain no check and will overtake larger 

 plants which have been brought from a distance. Direct 

 growth must be stopped by pinching off the tip of the 

 shoot at the first rough leaf, which imparts a robust habit 

 to the plant and contributes very materially to its subse- 

 quent vigour. 



The fruit of some prolific sorts appears upon the plants 

 while they are in a quite small state ; such pi-emature- fruit 

 ought immediately to be picked off in order that a few 

 strong shoots may be produced. When these show fruit 

 nip off the tips at the first joint beyond the fruit. Add 

 soil to the hillocks as the plants gain size till the entire 

 surface is covered. These successive soil-dressings should 

 consist of two parts turfy loam and one part of decayed 

 manure. Constant attention must be given to cutting-off 

 weakly shoots, pinching the tips of strong growths, thin- 

 ning the fruit, and the foliage too whenever it becomes 

 much crowded. Water must be given abundantly, in- 

 creasing the quantity in very bright weather, and taking 

 especial care to have it always of the same temperatnre 

 as that shown by the thermometer in the frame. This is 

 best done during the first stages of growth by putting 

 some bottles of water inside the frame and afterwards 

 by mixing hot and cold water. 



We will suppose that the plants have spread over the 

 surface of the bed and to some extent over each other, that 

 all has gone well, and that some dozens of well-developed 

 fruit have been cut. All looks flourishing; the foliage 

 is large and green, fruit is still abundant and appears 

 likely to continue so from the numerous young shoots 

 springing forth on all sides, and yet there is danger lurk- 

 ing close at hand, for a critical period has arrived ; the 

 roots have spread in the soil and have absorbed most of 

 its nutriment, so that unless fresh measures are adopted 

 debility will follow, which is so often a puzzle to begin- 

 ners. They look at the large green foliage, the rampant 

 growth, and roots so abundant that the white tips are 

 peering out of the soil, and wonder how there can be any 

 debility. But what is the cause of this " peering out of 

 the roots?" Is it not because they aie in search of more 

 and bettor food ? Examine the fruit, and yon must 

 acknowledge that it is not quite so large and long as it 

 was, that much of it exhibits a tendency to curl and grow 

 small at the tip, and that the tips of some are turning 

 yellow — in a word, that traces of incipient exhaustion are 

 clearly perceptible. What is to be done ? Answer : Give 

 the entire surface a dressing 3 or 4 inches thick of cow 

 dung or any very old rich manure, peg-down a joint or 

 two of a few of the main branches into this, use liquid 

 manure intead of clear water, letting the condition of the 

 growth be your guide as to its quality and quantity, and 

 No. 14i!8.— Vol. LVII., Old Seeies 



