FORCING CUCUMBERS. 



477 



in hardening the plants and then forcing 

 them on again ?" 



Answer : " We do not let them dry out 

 enough to check them ; I like them to dry- 

 out pretty well. If you water too often it 

 is impossible to get a hard, tough plant." 



Question : " Do you water the leaf or 

 the ground?" 



Answer : " I put it right on with the 

 hose, all over the leaf and all. I like to 

 water when it will not reduce the tempera- 

 ture of the house too much. In the morn- 

 ing, just as the sun is coming up, is the best 

 time, but, when we get busy, we water in 

 the evening as well. We use five and six- 

 inch pots and boxes, largely five inches by 

 five inches and five inches deep. We use 

 a good many that are six inches square. In 

 either case we put two plants in the box. 

 We try to get the plants a good size. They 

 run perhaps one and a half feet long before 

 we transplant them." 



Question : " You have them in blossom 

 before you put them out?" 



Answer : " i es. It is necessary, of 

 course, not to give them any check in mov- 

 ing them. We are planting a number un- 

 der cotton. We have a fence about seven 

 feet high to the north and west. To the 

 east there is a bit of grove and to the north. 

 I think it will repay any vegetable man to 

 put up a wind break. It is just like moving 

 loo miles south. 



" We have boards two and a half feet 

 high on one side and eight inches on the 

 other, and use rafters one by four and con- 

 nect with an angle iron. You can set them 

 up very quickly, ours are 210 feet long and 

 covered with cotton. We put the cucum- 

 bers in as soon as the danger of frost is 

 over, about the first or fifth of May, and 

 these cucumbers come in about 10 days later 

 than those planted in the greenhouse. We 

 keep the cotton over them for a while and 

 then start hardening them off. 



" We have to spray them to prevent the 



blight. We use the Bordeaux mixture the 

 same as we use for melons. We have 

 about 2,500 yards of cotton, and most of it 

 is used for cucumbers. After we have the 

 plants out under the cotton if frost threatens 

 (if it is a windy night you will not get frost, 

 but on a still clear night it is very easy to 

 tell if it is going to freeze) if you have water 

 connection just put on your hose and sprin- 

 kle your cotton about dark, while is it freez- 

 ing, and the water will freeze on the cotton 

 and then you will have a covering tighter 

 than any glass house. It is practically air 

 tight and it will stay so until the frost is 

 over. I have found that to work splendidly 

 and we have very little loss from frost." 



The chairman : " How is this ground 

 prepared before you put these plants out?" 



Answer : " We open the furrows and 

 put the rows in these 12 feet spaces. We 

 open out the furrows with a plow and then 

 put on the harrow and harrow it, then we 

 plant in the hollow and we mulch well with 

 rotten manure. Cucumbers want a great 

 deal of water. We use an inch hose and 

 let the water run through it as fast as it will. 

 We mulch after we plant." 



Question : " How do you draw the 

 manure down?" 



Answer : " We have a roadway between 

 every two beds and the mulch is carried in 

 trays. It is not a very good job to carry it 

 in. Most of it is thrown directly from the 

 wagon. It is easy to water, and the mulch 

 of the manure prevents the ground from 

 drying out and retains the water so that the 

 plant gets the most of it. We just water 

 the strip and cover with manure, and by 

 running the cultivator once every 10 days 

 or two weeks between the rows we prevent 

 the ground from drying out." 



Mr. Dillworth : " How do you run the 

 cultivator when you have these scantlings ?" 



Answer : " We lift these off ; it only 

 takes a short time. We can take them off 

 our beds and have them cultivated in about 

 two hours." 



