OTHER VINES THAT ARE USEFUL 241 
possible. This is the very best means we have 
for killing greenhouse pests, and if practised 
once a month with all the quantities reduced one 
half, will easily and effectively keep the house 
free of insect enemies. 
Tomatoes are sometimes troubled with a 
blight due to improper care. The only remedy 
is Bordeaux mixture, but a good preventive is 
flowers of sulphur blown over the plants with a 
bellows on dark, cloudy days. 
The best varieties of tomato for forcing are 
Sutton’s Winter Beauty, Comet, Best of All, and 
Frogmore Selected. 
Another valuable vine crop is the cucumber 
(Cucumis sativus), of which the fruit is used 
extensively pickled as well as fresh. The 
cucumber under favourable conditions is a very 
rapid grower and easily cultivated; under adverse 
conditions it is one of the most obstinate and 
difficult of plantsto grow. The soil for cucumbers 
must be very rich; if merely a few are to be grown 
for family use, hills can be prepared instead of a 
whole strip of ground. In this way all the plant 
food is stored in one place and is easily available. 
The hills should be about eight feet apart, not 
less than two feet deep, and about three feet across. 
The soil should be mixed with at least one third 
