CHAP. XXI VILLA GARDENING 481 



sary. The piuching at the first leaf beyoud the fruit must be 

 observed, as a thicket of growth is an evil, though in the summer 

 culture of Cucumbers the knife iusjDires less dread in the mind of 

 the observant cultivators. Some growers go through their Cu- 

 cumber frames once a week to regulate the growth, and pinch and 

 prune when needful, scattering at the same time a little rich com- 

 post over the white roots which come to the surface to look for 

 more food. Atmospheric moisture will be supplied by sprinklings 

 on sunny days with the syringe or the rosed waterpot, always using 

 water of the temperatm'e of the frame, and shutting up immediately 

 the sprinkling is done, to bottle up, as it were, the sun's rays, 

 which are far superior to any other kind of warmth. 



Insects, Diseases, etc. — The red spider is the most trouble- 

 some pest. Green-fly can be easily got rid of by two or three gentle 

 fumigations ; but if the red spider only gets a footing he will be 

 difficult to deal with. It is much easier to keep the red spider out 

 of the house or frame than to tm-n him out when he has become 

 established. He dislikes moistiu-e, and delights in dry warmth. 

 Hence, knowing the conditions under which the spiders live and 

 increase so marvellously, it is the cultivator's own fault if he does 

 not checkmate his enemy. If sufficient moistm-e is employed in 

 the atmosphere, and enough water in some form be given to the 

 roots, the red spider does not give much trouble. If the atmo- 

 sphere is charged with ammonia, the use of a little guano or some 

 such stimulant in the water for sprinkling the borders and floors 

 of the houses or pits^ will be beneficial in more ways than one. 

 Thrips are sometimes troublesome to Cucumbers, especially early 

 in the season, but these may be easily destroyed by fumigating 

 with Tobacco. These are the chief insect-pests which attack Cu- 

 cumbers seriously, and the red spider is the worst of the three. I 

 have cleared plants from them by shutting the house up close night 

 and day, for three or four days, and thoroughly satm'ating the 

 atmosphere with moisture, shading a little during the hottest part 

 of the day. The insects also dislike the fames of sidphur ; but in 

 all cases of attack promptitude is everything. When the leaves 

 are destroyed it may be a satisfaction to kill the enemy who has 

 done the mischief, but it will not bring back the dead to life. The 

 chief disease which gives trouble to Cucumber-growers is gumming 

 or gangrene, its chief seat being in the fruit, which it quite spoils. 

 This is so diflicult to cure that on its first aj)pearance most culti- 

 vators try to stamp it out by destroying the plants, clearing out 

 everything from the house, and starting again with the whole fresh 

 and clean. Gangrene often attacks plants which have been checked 

 and starved by injudicious treatment, tliough occasionally well- 



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