302 VEGETABLE FORCING 



sunny spring- weather. When its culture is undertaken 

 through the dull, cloudy weather of the fall and winter, 

 the plants are more susceptible to disease and they grow 

 much slower than during the spring. The yields, too, are 

 much lighter in the winter season and more attention 

 must be given to pollination than in the spring. 



In fact the greatest precautions are necessary in the 

 production of late fall and winter cucumbers, and only 

 experienced growers should undertake their culture under 

 such unfavorable conditions. Though the price for winter 

 cucumbers may be four or five times that of the spring 

 crop, the extra labor and the additional coal required 

 generally make it difficult to realize a profit, and for this 

 reason most greenhouse men prefer to grow lettuce until 

 spring or late in the winter and then start cucumbers or 

 tomatoes. 



Ground beds vs. raised benches. As stated on 

 page 322 there is no question about the value of bottom 

 heat, but this fact does not indicate that raised benches 

 are preferable to ground beds for the forcing of the cu- 

 cumber as a spring crop. 



Experiments conducted by Waid at the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station show that raised benches produced the larg- 

 est amount of early fruit, but ground beds the largest total 

 yield. The results were as follows : Plants trained up- 

 right on 228 square feet of raised bench produced 655 

 firsts and 87 seconds previous to July 4. Plants trained 

 upright on 228 square feet of ground bed produced 586 

 firsts and 67 seconds previous to July 4. The total yield 

 of firsts and seconds from the raised benches was 748 and 

 144, respectively, and from the ground bed 824 firsts and 

 168 seconds. While arguments can be advanced in favor 

 of growing cucumbers on raised benches, practically all 

 growers prefer ground beds. The question of the in- 

 fluence of bottom heat is discussed on page 322. 



Varieties. There are two distinct types of cucumbers, 





