CUCUMBERS AND MELONS 373 



rieties for stuffing. Smaller varieties, like Chili, Bird's 

 Eye, Ked Cherry and Japan Cluster furnish the most 

 pungency for seasoning. 



6. CucurHtaceous Group Cucumber, Melon, Squash, etc. 



All the members of this group are especially suited to 

 outdoor culture, but they are all very tender to frost. 

 Seeds must be planted somewhat shallow from early spring 

 to midsummer. For the earliest cucumbers and melons, 

 seeds are planted in frames. That is, each hill is enclosed 

 by a portable box frame about three feet square and usu- 

 ally having a movable sash cover. The cover is raised or 

 removed in warm days and the frame bodily taken away 

 when all danger of frost is past. In field culture, seeds are 

 planted an inch deep, four to six in a hill, with hills four 

 by six feet apart, these distances being varied slightly 

 according to location and variety. Fine cucumbers are 

 sometimes grown in hills surrounding a barrel in which 

 manure is placed to be leached out by successive waterings. 



The omnipresent enemies of all the cucurbitaceous crops 

 are the little cucumber beetle and the large black "stink 

 bug." Ashes, lime, or tobacco dust occasionally seem to 

 show some efficiency in preventing the ravages of these 

 insects, but the only reasonably sure immunity is in the 

 use of covers over the hills (Fig. 93). These covers are 

 made by stretching mosquito netting over arcs of barrel 

 hoops or bent wires. If by some such means the plants 

 are kept insect -free till they outgrow the protection, they 

 will usually escape serious damage thereafter. 



CUCUMBERS. The most popular type of this vegetable is 

 the White Spine, which has run into many sub-varieties 

 through diversities of cultivation and selection. The White 

 Spine varieties are excellent for pickles, for slicing, or 

 for forcing. For pickles, the smaller varieties, such as 

 Wethersfield, Chicago Pickle, Early Cluster, Early Frame, 



