WHEN THEY BEAR. 189 
The branches are all headed-in as soon as they reach 
the top of the trellis or begin to encroach upon the 
space allowed for neighboring plants. If the plants 
grow very rapidly and the trellis is large, some prelimi- 
nary heading back may be useful, but we have not prac- 
ticed the very close pinching-in system recommended by 
English growers. 
Bearing age.— Growers who find no difficulty in forc- 
ing the common cucumbers in winter often fail with the 
English sorts. I am convinced that this failure comes 
mostly from two errors: insufficient bottom heat, and 
impatience for quick results. The grower must under- 
stand that earliness is not a characteristic of the English 
cucumbers. From the sowing of seed to marketable 
fruits, in midwinter, is an average of 80 to roo days, in 
our experience. From a month to six weeks is required 
for the fruit to attain saleable size after the flower is 
set. A writer in Revue Horticole in 1874, records the 
growing of Telegraph in 65 days from seed, which was 
the quickest time on record in his vicinity. This experi- 
ment was made from February to April, however, when 
the days are lengthening. The plants continue in bearing 
for three or four months under good treatment, and a 
plant ought to yield at least eight goods fruits. If the 
plants are pinched-in after the English custom, and al- 
lowed to bear but two or three fruits at a time, the 
fruiting season can be extended, and probably a larger 
number of fruits can be obtained; but it is probably 
more profitable, especially in small houses, to secure 
the returns more quickly, in order to obtain a larger 
supply at any given time. Care must be taken not to 
allow the heavy fruits to pull the vines off the support, 
and those which do not hang free should be held up in 
slings, for if allowed to lie on the soil, they do not color 
evenly. Fig. 65 (see opposite page) shows (two fruits at 
the right) the method of swinging the fruits in slings. 
This swinging also appears to exert some influence upon 
