REPORT ON THE VARIETIES OF CUCUMBER. 61 



IV.— EEPORT ON THE VARIETIES OF 



CUCUMBER 



Grown in thk Garden at Chiswick durinw the Season 1861. 



By RoEEKT Hogg, LL.D., F.L.S., Secretary to the Fruit Committee. 



With the view of proving the vast number of varieties of the 

 Cucumber that are met with in the lists of the Seedsmen, I, with 

 the consent of the Fruit and Vegetable Committee, procured 

 seeds of every variety recorded in the catalogues, and these 

 amounted in all to 118 reputed distinct sorts. For the purpose 

 of carrying out the experiment effectually, the Council of the 

 Society gave authority to Mr. Etlks to have a long range of old 

 pits converted into a place suitable for the purpose and heated 

 with hot-water pipes. 



The seeds were sown on the 15th of May, in a warm hot-bed, 

 and the plants were potted off into 48's. They were then 

 shifted into 24's ; and, lastly, on the 11th of June, they were 

 transferred to their fruiting pots, 16 inches in diameter. 



The soil consisted chiefly of light loam, one-third rotten dung, 

 and some burnt earth. They were then placed in the pit prepared 

 for them, and trained to a wire trellis along the roof, each plant 

 being allowed a single stem to reach the top of the pit. When 

 it had attained the full length of the lights, the stem was 

 stopped, in order to produce side-shoots, on which the fruit wore 

 all borne simultaneously. They were frequently top-dressed with 

 good rotten dung, and liberally supplied with manure-water. 

 The pits were heated with hot-water pipes ; but the heat was only 

 used in dull weather to prevent damp, and on cold nights. 



Nothing could be more successful than the treatment to which 

 this experiment was subjected. Of the 118 varieties, not one 

 failed, but all grew with the greatest luxuriance, and preserved a 

 uniform vigoiu' and fine healthy colour during the whole period of 

 their growth. This uniformity of condition rendered the trial all 

 the more complete, for it could not be said that one variety had 

 any advantage over another, or that nny were produced under 



unfavourable circumstances* 



After the most careful examination, and a patient comparison 

 of each individual sort with every other, the long list of 118 

 varieties has been reduced to 34. It was not by any possibility 

 that more could be made of them; arid by a judicious disregard 



