4SS 



JODRNAIi OP HOBTICULTDBE &ND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 17, 1868. 



Tigoronsly and prodaoing fine frait where common garden soil 

 ia employed, bat this will in most caaes only ooour in summer 

 \rtien the days and nights are warm, and the amount of light 

 considerably more than in aatamn, winter, and spring. It 

 should be considered that Cacumbers are not to be had by the 

 game means at Christmas as they are at midsummer, and if 

 they are wanted in winter provision must accordingly be made 

 for their production. The best means for that purpose is a 

 house with hot-water pipes for furnishing bottom and top heat ; 

 bat where the necessary appliances are not provided, and fruit 

 is not required in winter, it is well not to attempt forcing very 

 early, but wait until there is a prospect of being successful with 

 the materials at command. For the growth of Cucumbers for 

 ontting in April and through the summer, a dung bed and 

 frame with two or three lights answer very well, and as this is 

 the mode most commonly in use, I shall treat of it first. 



DuNa Beds. — The materials for the seed bed should be in 

 readiness by the middle of January. Good stable dung is best, 

 and a quantity sufficient to form a bed for raising the plants 

 should be thrown into a heap, mixing the long with the short, 

 and the wet with the dry. If there is a large proportion of 

 dry long litter, it will be well to throw it into a heap by itself, 

 giving each layer a thorough soaking with the drainings from 

 the dunghill or with water, beating it well with the fork, and, 

 when thoroughly moistened, it may be thrown into a heap 

 with the short litter, and well incorporated. It should be 

 allowed to remain in the heap until it becomes hot, and then 

 be turned, mixing carefully together the long and dry with the 

 short and wet, and putting the top at the bottom and the out- 

 side inside. If the litter is in any part dry moisten it as the 

 work proceeds, and when it again ferments and becomes hot, 

 torn it again, and see that there are no dry patches ; if there 

 are, let them be well watered before being mixed with the mass. 

 It will soon become hot, then turn it again if very strawy and 

 the steam rank ; but with good stable litter twice turning will 

 be sufficient, and the dung will be in a fit state for forming into 

 a bed when the third heating or fermentation becomes general. 



A warm, sheltered situation ought to be chosen for the bed, 

 and though it cannot be too well screened from the points of 

 the compass between east, north, and west, yet the less 

 obstruction to the full light of the sun, and especially from 

 the east to the south and west, the better. For raising the 

 plants a small one-light box or frame will answer as well as 

 one of larger size. Mark out a space larger every way by 

 G inches than the frame, so that when the bed is formed it will 

 be C in hes wider than the frame both at the sides and ends. 

 It must, therefore, be 1 foot wider and longer than the frame. 

 Commence forming the bed by placing a layer of the longest 

 dang on the bottom, then layer after layer of the hot dung, 

 well shaking and mixing the materials of each, putting them 

 on evenly, and beating with the fork, so as to render each layer 

 compact. The sides should be built erect, and of the coarser 

 material, keeping the small in the centre and at the top of 

 the bed. Tbe bed should be carried up to the height of 4J feet 

 at the back and 4 feet in front, a one-light box being used, but 

 if a two-light, 6 inches less in height will suffice. 



After the bed has been finished, put on the frame and the 

 light or lights ; keep close until the heat reaches 80', then push 

 the light down a little to allow the steam to escape, and in 

 about a week the surface of the bed may be evenly covered 

 with 6 inches of old tan, light dryish soil, or other material 

 for plunging the pots in. In three days the materials will be 

 warmed, and a thermometer inserted in the bed to the depth 

 you propose plunging the pots will indicate the temperature ; 

 and if the temperature be low at the first examination — -say, 

 70" or 75'— and on the next day 80° or more, the heat will in 

 all probability rise considerably higher, and it will not be safe 

 to plunge tbe pots in the material ; but, to save time, seed 

 may be sown and the pots set on the plunging material, but 

 not plunged until the heat becomes regular; and when at 80°, 

 and not likely to exceed 85°, the pots may be plunged, partly 

 at first, and tben deeper as the heat becomes less violent. 



SowiNo, AND Management of tbe Seedlings. — For spring 

 and summer use the beginning of February is a good time to 

 sow, and, in my opinion, early enough. I generally sow in the 

 first week, and have fruit with certainty in April. I have sown 

 early in January, but it involves much trouble for a very pre- 

 carious gain of a few days in cutting fruit. For those who 

 do not require fruit before the end of May, the beginning of 

 March is a good season at which to sow, and the plants are 

 generally more vigorous, healthy, and continue longer in 

 bearing than those from seed eown in February. 



At whatever time tbe seed ia sown tbe bed ought to be made 

 a week previously ; and whilst for February it should be 4 feet 

 high, 3 feet will be sufficiently high in March, and less dung 

 will be needed as the weather becomes warmer. A height of 

 2 feet G inches will be ample for April, one of 2 feet for 

 May, and 1 foot 6 inches from the beginning of June up to 

 September. 



I prefer aowing the aeed singly in 3-inch pots, half filling 

 the pot with soil, and for drainage placing a lump of turf at 

 the bottom. The compost used should be light turfy loam 

 made fine, and the seed being placed in the centre, cover with 

 half an inch — not more — of fine soil. The soil should be 

 neither very wet nor dry, but in an intermediate condition, 

 and in that case no watering will be needed at sowing, but if 

 the soil is dry it must be made moist. The seeds, before 

 sowing, ought to be proved by putting them in water, and those 

 that swim after two hours' soaking are worthless. Those which 

 sink are good. 



If the seed bed be of the proper temperature — 80° — to begin 

 with, the pots should be about half plunged ; but if it exceed 

 80° do not plunge them, but set them on the plunging material. 

 When the bottom heat ia from 75° to 80° plunge the pots to 

 the rim, as, in consequence of plunging the pots, the heat will 

 be more regular than if it were derived from the atmosphere 

 of the frame. It ought to have been stated before, that the 

 surface of the plunging material ought not to be more than 

 8 inches from the glass ; indeed, when the plants appear, as 

 they will in four or five days, they should not be further from 

 the glass than that — better if not more than 6 inches from it, 

 but they should not be nearer, as the young plants are liable 

 to be chilled if the air in the frame be suddenly cooled by a 

 heavy sudden fall of snow or rain on the glass. 



When the seed leaves are as high as the rima of the pots, 

 put soil round the plants up to the level of the rim. The soil 

 used for this purpose should be kept in the frame twenty-four 

 hours previously so as to become warm. Afterwards the plants 

 will not need anything further in the way of soiling or potting 

 until planted out. Some sow three or more seeds in a smalt 

 pot, and, when the first rough leaf of the seedlings is showing 

 between the seed leaves, pot them off singly, or two in a 

 3-inch pot. In this case the pots should be so filled with soil 

 that when the plants are put in the pots their aeed leaves will 

 be as low as the rim of the pot, and if more than one plant 

 be put in a pot, each should be held in that position, soil being 

 placed round it to within half an inch of the rim or seed leaves. 

 The potting should be done in the frame, and with soil which 

 has been placed there some hours previously to become warm. 



The seedlings should be very carefully watered, and always 

 with water of the same temperature as the bed or air of the 

 frame ; and though it must not be saturated, the soil must 

 always be kept moist. A gentle watering ought to be given alter 

 potting; then plunge tbe pots in the bed. 



The temperature of the frame must be maintained at G5° by 

 night, and from 70° to 75° by day, with a rise of 10° or more 

 from sun heat, taking advantage of warm days to admit air, 

 and yet not in excessive quantity, but sufficient to keep the 

 plants sturdy in habit, and with leaves which will endure sun 

 without flagging or scorching. Air should be given as early in 

 the day after the temperature reaches 75° as can be done without 

 lowering it, and air-giving should cease before the^ temperature 

 becomes cooled below that. 



The bed being the source of heat, it must be frequently ex- 

 amined, and when its temperature is found to be declining, and 

 before it has sunk much, the heat should be renewed by linings 

 of hot dung on one side (the front first), and if it still decline 

 add others all round. The lining should be placed against the 

 side, and may have a base of 18 inches, and be narrowed to 

 1 foot, keeping it against the side of the frame, and bringing it 

 up to within a few inches of the lights. The temperature of 

 the bed should be ascertained by sinking into it about 1 foot a 

 thermometer, which should indicate a temperature at that 

 depth of 80° ; or it may be determined with tolerable accuracy 

 by a stick pushed from the outside under the frame towards 

 the centre of the bed. By withdrawing the stick and feeling it, 

 it may be kncs-n when the heat is declining. 



It will be necessary a few days after the bed is made, in 

 order to maintain the proper night temperature, to cover the 

 lights at night with mats or other material to prevent the 

 escape of heat, or the air being cooled by the contact of the 

 cold air with the glass. The material should be made secure, 

 ao that it may not be blown oft by the wiud, and it should 

 not be allowed to hang over the sides of the frame, and lie on 



