THE MAKING OF HOT-BEDS. 135 



with water should always be in the frames ; nothing does 

 plants in general more harm than watering them ^yit]l the 

 water at a lower temperature than the atmosphere they are 

 growing in, and this applies more especially to cucumbers 

 and melons, which are very susceptible of chill ; and where 

 the quantity of frames renders it difficult to keep a sufficient 

 quantity of water of a right temperature, get hot water from 

 the house, to put in among the cold, that it may be raised to 

 the proper temperature ; lukewarm water, even when of a 

 higher temperatiu'e than the frames, greatly accelerates the 

 gro^vth of plants. We might as well here correct a popular 

 error, which even ^Abercrombie has promulgated. He says, 

 truly enough, that there are the male and female blossoms on 

 the same j)lant, but he says the male blossoms are absolutely 

 necessary, by the dispersion of their farina, to imj)regnate the 

 female, without which the fruit will not swell, so that he 

 actually directs the farina of the male flower to be applied to 

 the female artificially. " At the time of fructification," he 

 says, " watch the plants daily, and as soon as a female flower 

 and some male blossoms are fully expanded, proceed to set 

 the fruit the same day, or next morning at furthest. Take off 

 a male blossom, detaching it with part of the footstalk ; hold 

 this between the finger and thumb, pull away the flower-leaf 

 close to the stamens and anthers, or central part, which apply 

 close to the stigma or bosom of the female flower, t^^^rling it 

 about a little to discharge thereon some particles of the ferti- 

 lizing powder. Proceed thus to set every fruit as the flowers 

 of both sorts open, while a lively full expansion," &c. &c. ; 

 and then he says, " in consequence, the young fruit will soon 

 be observed to swell freely." 



All this has been acted on from sire to son for centuries, 

 and yet, for the purposes of eating, it has been found that 

 nobody considers the seeds in a cucumber at all desirable, and 

 that the fruit is fortunately better when not impregnated than 

 when it is. In fact, it is a question whether, by way of pre- 

 vention, it may not be worth while (for we have acted on it) 

 to pull off all the male blossoms before they expand, and thus 

 secure the non-impregnation of the fruit ; if, however, we 

 desire to save seed, the fertilization of the fruit intended to 

 be saved must be secured, and the sooner the better, first, 

 because it secures the truth of the variety, which might be 

 endangered if left to chance impregnation by the bees or 



