136 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



other insects, wlio are as likely to bring pollen from another 

 kind as not ; but nothing can be more erroneous than to sup- 

 pose impregnation necessary to the perfection of the fruit for 

 the table. The artificial impregnation has been always recom- 

 mended for the winter and spring months, before there were 

 bees and flies to perform the work ; but it is perfectly unne- 

 cessary : the only difference between a cucumber impregnated, 

 and one not so, is, that in one the seeds will be better deve- 

 loped in early days, and be fertile when ripe ; while in the 

 other, the seeds are never fully developed at all, and never 

 swell to their size, nor germinate. It is the same all through 

 nature in the vegetable world : the nut wiU grow though it 

 have no kernel — apples and pears will grow even when they 

 have no pips ; the pods or seed-vessels of everything will 

 grow, and the seeds haK-grow, without any impregnation, 

 natural or artificial,— the only difference is that the seeds will 

 not germinate. Cucumbers and melons, when we are anxious 

 about the correctness of the sort, should be propagated from 

 cuttings ; young shoots, with one joint above ground and one 

 below, will strike freely in a bottom heat, in an atmosphere 

 of 70 degrees, and plenty of air when the temperature rises 

 above that ; put them round the edge of a pot, and water 

 them with water at the temperature of the bed ; pick off any 

 bloom that may make its appearance, and pinch the heart out 

 as soon as it makes a fair start ; but it is of no use trjdng to 

 strike them with a low temperature, nor depending on old 

 shoots. 



Layering is also a favourite mode of propagation ; for we 

 are sure of the individual sorts by that means, as well as by 

 cuttings ; but, when pegged down with a sharpish bend, the 

 shoot will continue growing ; and, as soon as it has rooted, 

 cut back the shoot to one joint above ground, and cut the 

 connexion with the parent plant ; and after it has been alone 

 three or four days, pot it up with all the fibres. These cut- 

 tings, or layers, fruit much quicker than seedlings : perhaps 

 the fruit is not quite so large, but there will be more of them 

 that we should let grow ; for they begin to bear as soon as 

 they begin to grow, and continue till they are exhausted. 

 The thorough dependence that can be placed on the sort is 

 worth a sacrifice ; and we have been astonished that nursery- 

 men have not made a point of keeping melon and cucumber 

 plants in stock, the same as any other bedding-out plants ; 



